Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 53 Signature Certificate (Please continue reading)

In the room where Chen Fan was temporarily staying at the educated youth settlement.

Captain Yang sat to one side, legs crossed, smoking.

Jiang Lili stood aside as a witness.

Liu Jujiang sat on the empty bed on the other side, smoking with a cheerful smile.

Accountant Liu counted the supplies, while custodian Huang took notes in a small notebook.

"One single mosquito net, 9 feet of blue cotton cloth, one bed sheet, one quilt cover, one set of bedding (two quilts), two sets of single clothes, two pairs of shorts, two pairs of rubber-soled shoes, four towels, two toothbrushes, two tubes of toothpaste, one enamel mug, one aluminum lunch box, one spoon, two enamel basins, one thermos, one kettle, one bar of soap, one flashlight, three No. 1 batteries, one pin tumbler lock, one kerosene lamp, and one pound of kerosene."

After finishing his record, Huang, the storekeeper, looked up at Chen Fan and Captain Yang sitting on either side of the table and chuckled, "These are the supplies provided by the brigade headquarters. They are basically given according to the standards for educated youth, and there are even a few extra."

Captain Yang raised his pipe and pointed at him, "Ignore those, just keep recording."

"okay."

The custodian, Huang, understood what Captain Yang meant and said no more.

When Accountant Liu untied the bundle Xiao Liewen had given him, he immediately wrote down: "A three-foot square bundle of cloth, a wool military overcoat, and a pair of fur-lined leather shoes."

Chen Fan watched from the side, his eyes twitching.

Don't be fooled by the fact that there's more stuff over there and less stuff over here. When it comes to value, all the other stuff combined wouldn't equal the value of these two.

That military overcoat was lined with sheepskin; it would be enough to wear even in winter in Northeast China, let alone in the Jiangnan region.

These suede boots are something else entirely; they're said to last three generations and never break. They're reinforced with steel plates in the forefoot, nailed to the sole, and even have a steel plate along the arch. Wearing these to kick someone… well, better not.

After Huang, the storekeeper, finished recording, he recorded the last basket of items.

"20 jin of rice, two pieces of cured pork, two one-foot-long cured fish, three jin of cotton, one jin of rapeseed oil, one bag of pickled vegetables, one bottle of homemade soy sauce, one bottle of homemade vinegar, one small jar of chili sauce, and one small jar of kimchi."

The storekeeper, Huang, suddenly turned to look at Liu Jujiang and said, "Master Liu, you've collected more than I have."

Liu Jujiang laughed heartily, "That's what Master Chen deserves. Besides, no matter how much I take, it's not mine. I'll just take one piece of meat and one fish, and nothing else."

Chen Fan looked up at him. What did that mean?
Only then did Captain Yang turn to look at Chen Fan, pointing at the supplies and saying, "Do you know what these are?"

Chen Fan looked blankly at him and shook his head. "I don't know."

Captain Yang moved his pipe sideways and pointed to the batch of supplies delivered by the brigade headquarters, saying, "These things are called rewards."

Then, pointing to the cotton-padded clothes and shoes that Xiao Liewen had given him, he said, "This is a thank-you gift."

Finally, pointing to the gifts from the five teams, he said, "These are called return gifts."

Chen Fan glanced at him, then at Jiang Lili, whose eyes seemed to hold a hint of joy, then at the others, and finally at Captain Yang. "What do you mean?" Captain Yang coughed, took a drag of his cigarette, and looked at him, saying, "Let's talk about the reward first. You taught our team how to cook turtle. Do you know what the significance of that is?"

Chen Fan blinked. "Can we eat meat?"

He knew that there was little oil and fat in the countryside, and people rarely ate meat. He didn't know how to cook turtles before, so the meat right under his nose was fed to the pigs, who even disliked it. Now that he had learned how to slaughter and cook them, he could eat meat more often.

That's all I can think of.

Captain Yang nodded first, then shook his head. "You're not wrong to say we can eat meat, but what is meat? It's grain! The turtles used to be wasted. Your arrival is turning waste into treasure. You can cook with turtles without adding oil. What does this mean for our commune members?"
This means that we can eat meat more often in the future. Eating meat can improve physical fitness, increase strength, and save a lot of food.

In this situation, since you're from out of town and your status is unclear, if you were a member of our team, we would give you a major commendation and it wouldn't be a problem to submit a report to transfer you to the commune as a cadre.

The brigade headquarters is only giving you a small amount of supplies. Do you think that's reasonable?

Chen Fan opened his mouth, thinking that saying it was reasonable would seem too immodest, but saying it was unreasonable would be even more wrong. For the production team, grain was everything; producing more grain and saving grain were both major achievements. Was giving them a reward excessive?

So eating turtle has such great significance?
Captain Yang ignored his thoughts and continued, "I think I understood what Deputy Captain Xiao meant by that. You fulfilled one of his wishes, so he gave you something in return. That's perfectly normal. Although his gift was a bit generous, it's a token of his appreciation, so you have to accept it. You can't refuse it, or you'll be disrespecting him, and he'll be angry. If he's angry, then the whole brigade will be angry, and I won't tolerate you here. You need to get out of here right now."

Upon hearing this, Chen Fan quickly nodded, "I'll take it!"

Sending a thank-you gift with threats? That's unacceptable!

Captain Yang's lips twitched, he picked up his teacup, took a sip of water, then coughed and said, "Finally, there's the issue of the return gift."

At this moment, Accountant Liu interjected, "When Yang Ju went to call me, I asked about the situation and found out it was about the return gift, so I called Third Brother over as well."

It was only then that Chen Fan realized that Liu Jujiang and Accountant Liu were also brothers.

That makes sense. They're from the same village and both have the surname Liu, so it's hard to believe they're not related.

Accountant Liu continued, "Where did this return gift come from? We rural people value etiquette. When we ask someone for help with something, we usually give them a red envelope and some gifts. But you taught us how to kill turtles and cook turtle meat, which is not just a simple matter of helping out, but a proper transmission of skills."

In other words, if you pass on your skills to the entire brigade, but only to one person, that person has to kowtow to you, become your apprentice, and serve you for three years. That's how Master Zhu at the food station now accepts apprentices; aside from not kowtowing, the proper etiquette is absolutely mandatory.

After he finished speaking, Captain Yang said, "Your group is teaching a whole brigade of people. If each squad doesn't give you a return gift, other places will laugh at us Lujiawan for not knowing the rules."

So, the brigade headquarters gave a suggested amount: roughly 20 jin of rice, two pieces of cured pork, two one-foot-long cured fish, three jin of cotton, and one jin of rapeseed oil. Whether or not to add any other inexpensive items depended on each team's wishes.

Then he pointed to Liu Jujiang and said, "Master Liu learned your craft but didn't give you anything. Those things were all counted on our team's pay. The clothes we promised you before, this quilt, and thirty catties of rice will roughly offset it."

He ran errands for you at six different teams. Of the gifts they gave you, he kept a piece of meat and a fish as a token of his appreciation, but the rest was still yours.

After saying this, he took a drag of his cigarette, looked at Chen Fan and smiled, "These are the rules. If you're worried about getting into trouble with these things, a few of us can sign off on them. What other questions do you have?"

The last chapter was 300 words shorter, but actually I didn't write much o(╥﹏╥)o
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(End of this chapter)