Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 501 We will definitely provide good service.
Tossing away his cigarette butt, Chen Fan picked up his suitcase and looked around. "Where can I get a taxi?"

Everyone turned to look at him.

Anquan was surprised. "You're really going to stay in a public bathhouse? This isn't one of those high-end bathhouses! It's just a large lobby with a few rows of makeshift beds where dozens or even hundreds of people sleep. The snoring and stinky feet make it impossible to sleep."

Judging from Chen Fan's attire, he doesn't look like someone who lives in a public bathhouse.

Besides, can Chen Fan really stand this injustice?
He didn't believe it at all.

If it weren't for the fact that there was simply no room at home, he would have liked to bring a few people back to stay. Now he can only think about it and see if he can ask his father for help, preferably to free up a room at the neighborhood office's guesthouse.

But now more and more people are returning to the city, and everyone is pulling strings and asking for favors, so even this small matter is very difficult to handle.

He didn't believe it, and Zhang Wenliang didn't believe it even more. Would someone who always stayed in a cadre's room at a guesthouse go to a public bathhouse? Are you kidding me?

Chen Fan had already spotted several tricycles parked on the roadside in the distance, so he raised his hand and asked, "Are those taxis?"

Anquan was completely confused, but when he heard the question, he looked in the direction the man was pointing and nodded. "Yes, that's a three-wheeled taxi. We locals call it 'Wujuke.' It can seat two or three people. Oh, there are some in Gufeng County too."

Chen Fan snapped his fingers. "Let's go then."

Anquan suddenly realized something and asked, "Do you know any ways to find a place to stay?"

Chen Fan strolled forward, "I don't know yet, let's go and see first. If we can't stay here, we can stay in a public bathhouse."

There's no way I'll stay in a public bathhouse; I'll never stay in one in my life. If all else fails, I'll have to swallow my pride and ask my readers in Shanghai for help.

Well, given their workplaces and positions, finding them a guesthouse shouldn't be a problem, right?

Since the last time he safely boarded the ship and met a captain reader, he went home and sorted through almost all the letters from his readers.

Believe it or not, he actually discovered quite a few "treasure readers," and he used a special notebook to record their information.

Shanghai is so big, and he has submitted quite a few articles to "Shanghai Literature and Art" magazine. Naturally, he has received many letters from readers. The magazine has packaged these letters and sent them to him. He has also sorted out these people's information, which is in a notebook in his suitcase. He should be able to find a few people to help him temporarily.

Anquan became excited instantly and jogged alongside him, saying, "I knew you had a way. Here's what we'll do: let me return the tricycle first, then get some clean clothes, and we'll go to the guesthouse together."

Outsiders were more popular than him, a local, yet he felt no shame whatsoever; in fact, he was quite excited.

Chen Fan stopped and turned to look at him. "Okay, then we'll go to your house first and wish your uncle and aunt a Happy New Year. We'll wait for you to come with us then."

Anyway, since I'm sleeping on the floor at home anyway, it's not bad to stay at a guesthouse together. It'll be more convenient for me to go with them to buy seedlings.

Just as Anquan finished nodding, Chen Fan said, "By the way, is your home far away? Do you want to take a taxi there?"

He immediately smiled and said, "It's not far, just a little ahead, next to the City God Temple. It won't take more than 10 minutes to walk there."

Chen Fan's expression froze slightly. Damn, he was actually a potential tycoon?

Even a house next to the City God Temple, if it's only 40 square meters, could be worth over 1000 million yuan decades from now.

After safely mounting the tricycle, Chen Fan and his companions placed their luggage on it and followed behind.

Zhang Wenliang quickly walked two steps to his side and asked in a low voice, "Are you going to the Shanghai Writers Association?"

In his mind, it was perfectly normal for writer Chen, a member of the provincial writers' association and a division-level cadre, to ask a fellow writer for a favor.
Chen Fan shook his head. "No, don't ask which one it is yet. We don't know if it will work. You'll find out later."

He joined the Writers' Association merely to enhance his resume, and his acceptance of the position of director of the European and American branch of the External Relations Department was only for future convenience; in reality, he was not very willing to participate in the affairs of the Writers' Association.

Especially the Shanghai Writers Association.

This year, Lu Xinhua will join the Shanghai Writers Association with his novel "The Wound," becoming one of the first and youngest members of the National Writers Association, a council member of the Shanghai branch of the Writers Association, a standing committee member of the Shanghai Youth Federation, and a representative to the 4th National Congress of Literary and Art Circles.

Of course, now that he's here, it shouldn't be Lu Xinhua's turn to be the youngest member of the National Writers Association.

However, the Shanghai Writers Association will inevitably become the eye of the storm in the national literary scene within the next year or two, and he has no desire to get involved.

So this time when he came to Shanghai, apart from seeing if he could visit Ba Jin and Xia Yan, he didn't even want to meet with the editors of the "Shanghai Literature and Art" magazine, let alone get involved with the Shanghai Writers Association.

I didn't mean anything by it; I was just afraid of getting into trouble.

Oh, that’s right.

Lu Xinhua seems to be from the Chinese Department of Fudan University, the same major as Jiang Tiantian, maybe even classmates?
Hmm, I'll have to give her a heads-up later, tell her not to get involved in everything, and to be a good student who stays out of trouble.

As expected, Anquan's parents' home was not far away. He rode his tricycle, followed by several nimble people. In less than 10 minutes, they stopped in a small alley.

Pushing open the closed iron gate, after Chen Fan and the others had collected their luggage, Anquan first returned the tricycle to an elderly man in his sixties, and then led them inside.

He also explained, "This used to be an office building in the old society. Because it was close to the dock, there were many companies here back then. Later, it was converted into public housing for ordinary people to live in. People from various units lived here. The only problem is that the layout is not very good. There is no kitchen or toilet in the house, so life is a bit inconvenient. But compared to many people who were not allocated housing, it is already very good."

Chen Fan followed behind him, taking in the dim light of the street lamps. It was a large five-story building, square in shape, just like an office building. The exterior walls only had windows, and there wasn't even a balcony.

Upon entering the stairwell, one can see kitchens set up along the corridor, like street stalls, lining both sides of the stairwell and blocking the wide corridor to the point where only a slightly overweight person can walk through.

It was right at the end of the workday, and many people were busy cooking. Some were using gas stoves, but most were using honeycomb briquette stoves.

Although there are many stoves, there is not much oil smoke.

At that time in Shanghai, each person only had a monthly quota of half a jin of oil, which was simply too extravagant to use too much oil.

However, some people render their own lard as a substitute, mixing it with a bunch of green vegetables, which makes it taste exceptionally fragrant.

After reading it, Zhang Wenliang couldn't help but purse his lips and turn to look at Chen Fan.

Chen Fan smiled slightly at him, shrugged, and quickly followed behind An Jian to climb the stairs.

After walking up to the fourth floor, Anquan turned around and pointed, "We're here, it's on this floor."

Upon reaching the stairwell, Chen Fan and the others put down their luggage, some opening their suitcases and others their bags, each taking out a bag.

Anquan understood at a glance and immediately said, "What are you doing? You're not strangers, why are you being so polite?"

Chen Fan shook the bag and laughed, "It's Chinese New Year, and when you visit your uncles and aunts, it's impossible not to bring something. That just doesn't make sense anywhere."

These were prepared in advance. If I go to Anquan's house, I will give them directly to his parents. If I don't go, I will hand them over to Anquan to pass on.

Safety slapped his forehead and chuckled, "Alright then."

He already accepted the 1800, so he won't miss out on this New Year's gift.

As An Quan walked inside, he greeted the people cooking in the corridor, naturally attracting the attention of Chen Fan and his group.

Fortunately, Chen Fan wasn't socially anxious. He nodded and smiled all the way, and finally stopped when he reached the very end of the corridor.

There was no need to knock; the doors were all open. A woman in her fifties was cooking at the door. When she saw Anquan return, she was about to greet him, but then she noticed the five people following behind him. She was slightly startled at first, but then her face lit up with a smile as she said to Anquan, "You're back. Are they your friends?"

I was still having a headache when I spoke. Wasn't it supposed to be that we would pick them up and take them to the guesthouse? Now there's no food prepared, and there's not even a place to sit at home. It's really embarrassing.

Chen Fan and the others quickly greeted her, "Happy Chinese New Year, Auntie! We wish you a Happy New Year!"

We set off on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year and spent four days on the road. Today is only the ninth day. Although the holiday was only three days long back then, it was still the Spring Festival until the Lantern Festival. Unlike later generations, when there were more holidays, the time for New Year's greetings was shorter, and almost no one would visit each other after the fifth day of the Lunar New Year.

At this moment, several people came out of the house.

There was an older man in his fifties, who was undoubtedly the father of the family. There was also a young couple in their thirties, and two children under ten years old.

Chen Fan and his group then greeted each of them and offered their New Year's wishes.

The two rooms are indeed small. One room is slightly tidier, with only a large bed, two large wardrobes, two desks, and a few chairs.

Well, this little bit of stuff has already filled the room.

The other room was even more cramped, with a large bed, a small bed, two wardrobes, and a jumble of tables, chairs, boxes, bookshelves, etc., with things piled up even under the bed and on top of the wardrobes.

Anyway, no matter which room it is, there's not enough room for all of them.

However, at Anquan's father's insistence, the group sat for a while in the room that clearly belonged to Anquan's brother and sister-in-law. After drinking some hot tea, they left their gifts and took their leave.

As Anquan stepped out of the courtyard, he said with a wry smile, “See? This is how my parents’ house is. Now my brother and sister-in-law share a room, my two nephews sleep with my mother, my father sleeps on that small bed, and I sleep on a makeshift bed on the floor.”

"This is already considered pretty good; at least I have a place to sleep on the floor. Some people, after returning to the city, can't even get a floor to sleep on and have to squeeze into a large dormitory with others in temporary accommodations provided by the neighborhood committee."

He turned to look at Chen Fan and suddenly laughed, "I've actually been to that place. It's worse than a public bathhouse, so you guys being assigned to a public bathhouse isn't the worst off. Some travelers arrive at night and there's no place to even find a public bathhouse, so they're assigned to places like this, but it's free."

Chen Fan's lips twitched slightly as he walked back the way he came, because the only place to catch a taxi was at the dock.

Once he reached the alleyway entrance, he took out a cigarette, waved it around, lit it, and said, "Isn't there a place to rent?"

If you can't buy a suitable place right now, renting one is fine too. The rent isn't expensive, and even decades later it will only cost a few dollars. Except for not being able to sell it if it's not yours, it's more cost-effective than buying a house for people who don't have much money.

Anquan snorted twice, "Where would I find houses to rent? Some have already been rented to employed workers. Right now, there are many times more people queuing to rent than people wanting to buy. Otherwise, I wouldn't be thinking about buying a house..."

He paused for a moment, then added, "But it's not entirely accurate to say they had no houses at all. Many people went abroad in the past, and some were also victims of other crimes; their houses were confiscated."

Now that the government is trying to build a united front, they hope to make good use of anyone with overseas connections, so many houses have been returned to their owners.

It was precisely because of this incident, which coincided with the return of educated youth to the city, that housing became extremely scarce.

He turned to look at Chen Fan and said with a smile, "If you know someone with overseas connections, you can buy or rent a good house directly from them." After saying that, he took a deep drag of his cigarette, exhaled a long plume of smoke, and said dejectedly, "Damn it, after decades of hard work, I'm back to square one."

Chen Fan's lips twitched slightly; he hadn't expected him to be such a radical youth.

He exhaled a puff of smoke and calmly said, "If you were the one being bailed out, wouldn't you be very happy?"

Anquan paused for a moment, then burst out laughing after a few seconds. "Haha, it's true."

Zhang Wenliang and the others exchanged glances and all curled their lips in disgust.

There are so many tricks in the city, the countryside is much better.

Before returning to the dock, the taxis that had been there earlier were no longer there.

However, a few new ones arrived instead.

The six people were divided into three cars. Anquan squeezed in with Chen Fan and, after settling in, asked, "Where are you taking us? The Health Bureau, or the Writers' Association?"

He overheard Zhang Wenliang talking to Chen Fan earlier and asked a few questions in a low voice. He then learned that Chen Fan was already a member of the Provincial Writers Association and had even been transferred to a different workplace.

If I were still working at the tax office, I would be four ranks lower than him.

There's nowhere to seek justice!
Chen Fan replied, "Health Bureau."

He then said to the driver in front, "Sir, please go to the Municipal Health Bureau Guesthouse."

Anquan's face was full of envy. "I knew it. With your reputation in the health system, you can stay in any health guesthouse in the country."

Chen Fan sighed, "You think you can just stay here for free? You'll have to put in some effort, buddy!"

It would be great to have someone to greet you wherever you go, but if possible, Chen Fan would rather be assigned to an ordinary guesthouse than owe anyone a favor.

You have to repay the favors you owe. Putting aside everything else, if I give a presentation and organize a technical exchange meeting, would you go?
How can you come and stay if you don't go yourself?

Going there would take up two days, and I'd have to entertain a bunch of strangers.

Yaoshou!
The pier is about 6 kilometers away from the city health bureau. With the steady control of the tricycle driver, we arrived at the guesthouse in about ten minutes.

After a few more minutes of check-in procedures, Chen Fan finally settled into the cadre room of the Health Bureau's directly affiliated guesthouse.

He currently holds three certificates: a membership certificate from the Writers Association, a work certificate from the Jiangnan Provincial Writers Association, and an honorary advisor certificate from the Yunhu Health Department.

In addition to the letter of introduction from Lujiawan Production Brigade in Zhang Wenliang's possession, he also had a "job" introduction letter issued by Yunhu Health Department.

He was actually hoping that health system units in various places could help him with a simple paperwork. He had worked overtime to get it done for Zhou Jie when he visited her for the New Year and heard that she was going to Shanghai.

When checking in, Chen Fan, with his unremarkable looks, first managed to get the receptionist to speak to him calmly. Then, he placed his honorary advisor certificate, the health department's letter of introduction, and the Writers' Association work card on the table, and the check-in procedure was completed.

The consultant's certificate and letter of introduction are proof of his legitimacy to stay here.

After all, guesthouses within these work units generally do not accept guests from outside the system unless there is a legitimate reason for work-related communication.

Since he is an honorary advisor to the Yunhu Health Department and the inventor of the "Yunhu First Aid Method" which was famous last year, it is only natural that he stays in the health system's guesthouse.

As for the Writers' Association work permit, it is to prove his current job level.

This isn't Yunhu, and there's no Sister Zhou here, so naturally they wouldn't just casually arrange a cadre's room for him.

However, having a work permit changes everything; division-level cadres are entitled to stay in cadre housing regardless of location. ...Since connections have already been used, why not make it more comfortable?!
As for Zhang Wenliang and the others who came along, they were also properly taken care of thanks to his influence.

He could fit a triple room and a double room in there without having to beg anyone.

In the cadre's room, Chen Fan was soaking in the bathtub, humming contentedly.

……

At the reception desk below, a young woman in her twenties was on the phone with her boss.

"Yes, it's Chen Fan. I've confirmed it. He's the one who invented the Yunhu First Aid Method last year. I saw his credentials. He's a member of the Jiangnan Provincial Writers Association, and he currently works at the Writers Association as a deputy director."

Why did he change jobs? I don't know, but I heard he's a writer and often publishes articles in magazines in his province of Jiangnan, so it's normal for him to join the Writers' Association.

Oh right, I also saw Zhang Wenliang. Yes, he's one of the two people who did the demonstration in the First Aid Manual. The other one, Zhang Juemin, wasn't there. I checked his name when I was processing their paperwork, and he wasn't there.

What are you here for? Oh, I actually asked that before.

They came on behalf of the production team to purchase seedlings, such as meat rabbits and broiler chickens. They just arrived today, and since they weren't assigned a guesthouse, they had to come here.

Okay, I'll keep a close eye on them and make sure they don't run away. Yes, I just finished the paperwork and reported to my team leader, and then you called.

Okay, I'll definitely provide good service. Alright, I understand. I'll go talk to him now.

After hanging up the phone, the receptionist immediately grabbed two bottles of hot water, left them at the reception desk, and stomped upstairs.

Anyway, there are armed guards standing watch at the entrance, so there's nothing to worry about.

……

After taking a shower, Chen Fan put on the thick cotton-padded pajamas he had made himself, plopped down on the bed, and then rolled over.

Comfortable.

It's a pity there's no heating here; it would be great if we could get a fireplace.

Winter in Shanghai is even colder than in Yunhu. Although it didn't snow today, the sky was overcast, and the north wind was howling, carrying moisture from the sea and launching waves of magical attacks. It was so cold that it chilled you to the bone, making you want to crawl into bed.

But now is not the time to go to bed.

Although I had a few drinks with the captain on the ship before disembarking, I was hungry again.

"dong dong dong"

A knock sounded at the door, and Chen Fan sat up and went to open it.

As expected, it was safe for them.

Chen Fan stepped aside and walked in, "You guys finished washing up so quickly?"

Zhang Wenliang was the first to come in. "It's just a matter of washing your face and soaking your feet, how long can it take?"

Anquan followed behind him, clicking his tongue and saying, "Wow, no wonder it's a cadre's house, it's really different. This room is bigger than my two rooms at home."

He touched this and looked that, "Hey, there's a radio, an electric fan, and the furniture is made of the finest nanmu wood. It's so luxurious, really luxurious."

Ye Anguo and his two companions weren't that familiar with Chen Fan, but they weren't reserved either, and just followed him in with smiles on their faces.

Chen Fan gestured for them to sit on the sofa by the window, then took out a pack of Golden Dragon brand filter cigarettes and tossed it onto the coffee table. "Help yourselves."

He then sat on the bed and laughed, "The conditions here are not as good as Yunhu Health Center. Not only is it bigger, but it also has a black and white TV."

Anquan lay down on the sofa, picked up a cigarette, took out a few, and handed them to Zhang Wenliang and the others. He also put one in his mouth and said irritably, "Don't always compare Yunhu to Shanghai, okay? The houses here are very expensive. It's already pretty good to have a room this big."

Chen Fan laughed and was about to speak when his ears twitched twice, signaling the others to be quiet.

He then stood up, walked to the door, and opened it.

Just then, I saw the receptionist walking over.

The receptionist was startled when she saw the door open, but breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it was Chen Fan. She put on a smile and said, "Hello, Director Chen. I was worried you might not have enough hot water, so I brought two more bottles."

Chen Fan smiled and accepted it, "Thank you, thank you for your trouble."

He paused for a moment, then laughed and said, "Don't call me Director or anything like that. The Director of the Writers' Association has nothing to do with our health system. Just call me Chen Fan, or Comrade Chen, it's fine either way."

Looking at the gentle and refined Comrade Chen, the receptionist blushed slightly and said softly with her head down, "Yes, Director Chen."

Chen Fan's lips twitched slightly. Well, it was all for nothing.

After a couple of seconds, seeing that the receptionist was still standing there, he asked softly, "Uh, is there anything else?"

The receptionist snapped out of her daze, looked up, and said, "Oh, yes."

She blinked a few times, finally remembering the task her boss had assigned her. "Uh, it's that our unit's leaders, and a few leaders from the Health Bureau, heard you were in Shanghai and wanted to come and visit you."

Chen Fan pursed his lips. "I've only just checked in, and you've already sent people over. Isn't that a bit too hasty?"
Before he could speak, the receptionist continued, "They'll be here shortly. Also, you probably haven't had dinner yet, have you? I've already notified the guesthouse canteen, and they're preparing food. Our leader will treat you to a simple meal later. That's all I wanted to tell you about."

Since we've come to someone else's territory, we naturally can't refuse the host's invitation.

Chen Fan nodded and smiled, "Okay, then I'll be waiting for your leader."

The receptionist gave him a sweet smile and waved, "Goodbye, Director Chen."

Chen Fan, “…”

(End of this chapter)