Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 535 Run quickly

In a small courtyard in Beijing.

Zhang Xuansong sat imposingly on the couch covered with a tiger skin, picked up a few ginseng roots from a small box on the bedside table, and looked at them with disdain. "These are wild ginseng? They're too small. Have they not grown yet?"

Chen Fan was squatting by the door processing medicinal herbs when he heard this. He turned around and said with a look of resentment in his eyes, "Master, none of the wild ginseng that can be dug up is less than thirty years old, because it won't grow properly if it's not thirty years old. All these ginsengs are over eighty years old. I wanted to exchange them for a hundred-year-old ginseng, but they wouldn't give it to me."

These days, digging for wild ginseng is unlike in later generations, where people would dig up ginseng seedlings to make money. After processing, some only weigh 3 or 5 grams, looking so small that it's hard to know how much medicinal value they have.

Nowadays, ginseng diggers won't touch any ginseng that hasn't grown to a sufficient age. Whether they're new or experienced, everyone follows the rules. Those who don't follow the rules can't survive in the mountains.

These are all genuine wild ginseng, not the artificially cultivated, naturally grown forest ginseng, nor the garden ginseng grown like radishes in a medicinal garden.

Garden ginseng can be harvested in four or five years at most, while forest ginseng can be harvested after more than 10 years of cultivation.

Genuine wild ginseng takes decades or even centuries to mature; it takes 30 years to fully develop its medicinal properties and 50 years to reach its full potential. During its growth, some ginseng even shrinks back after a few years, meaning it grows smaller and then starts to grow again the following year. Therefore, wild ginseng is very difficult to grow to a large size.

If you dig up all the ginseng seedlings, what will happen to your descendants?
Another point is that many people think ginseng is very cheap in this era, and you can buy one for just a few dollars. Chen Fan said that those cheap ginseng are either cultivated ginseng or forest ginseng, and definitely not genuine wild ginseng.

Putting aside other things, wild ginseng in state-run pharmacies in Changchun costs several tens of yuan per ounce, and even the most ordinary 30-year-old mature ginseng easily costs more than ten yuan.

And these are actually considered cheap.

稍微大一点的就更不得了，1977年在香港一支不到1两重的百年野山参售价是每盎司（28.35克）2万3千美元，合4万多美元一两。

Yes, that's the price from 77. With such a huge price difference, no wonder the import and export company refused to exchange it for Chen Fan, preferring to give him two more wild ginseng roots from 80.

In 1981, an exceptionally large wild ginseng weighing 9.2 taels (old scale) was discovered in Fusong County, Jilin Province. At the time, it was displayed in the Great Hall of the People as a "treasure among treasures," and its price was incalculable.

Hey, I won't sell it no matter how much money they offer!
Therefore, wild ginseng has never been cheap, no matter the time.

If Chen Fan hadn't hunted half a cartload of game over three days, including valuable furs like sable and sika deer, the import and export company wouldn't have given him over a dozen wild ginseng roots of sufficient age.

But even ginseng that's eighty years old is still quite small.

So now Zhang Xuansong dislikes him.

Two days ago, after Chen Fan brought his prey back to the FAW factory, Director Yang had just finished dealing with the cooperation matters with FAW. That night, everyone had a feast of wild game that he had brought back. The next day, he took several large boxes and took the train back.

Today, after arriving in Beijing, Director Yang and his team went to the Ministry of Machine Building to handle the approval procedures for the Yunhu Automobile Factory. As for Chen Fan, he reappeared here.

Originally, he intended to use tiger bone and ginseng as the main ingredients to make a jar of wine for each of his three masters, but he didn't expect that as soon as he opened the box, they would set their sights on the tiger skin.

After confirming that Chen Fan owned the tiger skin and that it had no other use, the tiger skin was laid out on the daybed.

Chen Fan could only drink the medicine made from tears.

After finishing the task in no time, he carried the three jars of medicinal wine to their respective rooms and then went to the kitchen to prepare lunch.

Today's main dish is "Flying Dragon Soup." As the saying goes, "Dragon meat in the sky, donkey meat on the ground," but this "dragon meat" doesn't refer to a divine dragon, but rather to a hazel grouse called "Flying Dragon."

High-end ingredients require only the simplest cooking methods: remove the feathers and internal organs of a gyrfalcon, simmer it in broth, and then add an inexpensive ginseng root—that's the most delicious tonic.

Tiger meat is a must-order. The meat is coarse, so the fibers need to be pierced with a steel needle. It is then marinated in sauce to remove the fishy smell and dryness, cut into small pieces and braised. Finally, a small ginseng root is added and simmered, making it fragrant for miles around.

Roasted mutton, braised roe deer leg, baked venison, and fried scallop duck.

These dishes are enough. They are all served in clay pots and are quite generous in portion size. Any more would be wasteful.

There's also a big pot of wild game stewed rice.

Smelling the delicious aroma from the kitchen, Li Shangde leaned against the tiger skin, one foot resting on the tiger's head, humming contentedly, while muttering obediently, "Hey, I say, isn't this a bit inappropriate?"

Lin Yuanxiang walked around the room with his hands behind his back, occasionally adjusting the position of a deer head or moving a wolf head to a different spot.

Hearing Li Shangde's words, he replied without turning his head, "Hmph, if he hadn't brought these things over to show off, would we have been able to snatch these goodies?!"

Zhang Xuansong lay on the bed, turned to look at Li Shangde, and chuckled, "Didn't you hear him say that he hunted most of the game, even the ginseng was traded for the game, and the rest was packed into 5 large boxes to bring back, but how many of those boxes did he just bring over?"

Li Shangde's eyes darted around, and he immediately understood what he meant. He couldn't help but laugh and scold, "You little rascal, are you trying to fool us?"

Lin Yuanxiang adjusted the angle of a "fan" made of pheasant feathers, turned around, clapped his hands, and walked over, laughing, "Isn't that right? Otherwise, there would be exactly three wolf-skin rugs, three fox-skin coats, and three sets of knee pads, shoes, and gloves? What a coincidence!"

As he spoke, he squeezed between the two men and kicked Li Shangde's foot away, saying, "Make way, make way, let me also enjoy the majesty of Zuo Shandiao!"

The two people next to him rolled their eyes in unison, both wanting to stay away from him.

But he couldn't bear to part with the tiger skin under his butt.

Zhang Xuansong let out a long, comfortable sigh. "Wow, I made a good choice in taking on this disciple. Except for his excessive spending, he's perfect in every way!"

Lin Yuanxiang leaned against the bedside table, found a comfortable angle to lie down, closed his eyes and laughed, "Come on, do you really think he's short of your few dollars? (Chen Fan: He really is!")
With his abilities, he could earn it back in less than a year. Being able to earn and spend is skill; being able to earn but not spend is being stingy; being able to spend but not earn, that's being a spendthrift.

He suddenly opened his eyes, turned to look at Zhang Xuansong, and said, "Hey, how about we go to the old general's place again tomorrow, bring this tiger skin, and also pick out a set of leather rugs and knee pads to send over?"

Zhang Xuansong hummed twice, "Not very good."

He sat up abruptly, sighed, and said, "Don't you know what kind of person the old marshal is? If you dare to send him a tiger skin, he'll beat you to death with his cane and then hand it over. If you send him a wolfskin rug, he'll demand payment, but he won't use it and will just give it to other leaders. Do you believe me?"

Lin Yuanxiang exhaled a long breath and said wistfully, "I believe it, how could I not believe it?"

He paused for a moment, then said, "That brat only sent over three sets. Did he guess that the old general wouldn't accept them?"

Li Shangde, standing beside him, pursed his lips and said softly, "The old marshal is blind and his health is inconsistent. He won't want these things. Not to mention these material possessions, he won't even use the good medicine the doctor prescribes for him. He only uses cheap medicine. What can we do?"

Zhang Xuansong clicked his tongue, "The Taoist skills I have inherited can prolong life, but unfortunately, you have to start practicing them when you're young and you need to have a peaceful state of mind for them to be effective."

He looked up at Chen Fan, who was busy in the kitchen, his eyes filled with emotion. "If I had met him 20 years earlier, with his Taoist cultivation, he could have treated the old marshal. Not to mention prolonging his life, at least his body would have felt better. But he wasn't here 20 years ago. Now, it's too late."

Neither Lin Yuanxiang nor Li Shangde remained silent.

They didn't need to worry about his medical skills, and they didn't believe that Chen Fan could surpass those old famous doctors. The only thing they could really rely on was Qigong.

Daogong and martial arts qigong both belong to the category of qigong, but they are quite different.

Martial arts qigong primarily focuses on strengthening the body and enhancing the power of punches and kicks; it is a thorough art of killing enemies.

Daoist cultivation, on the other hand, involves using the illusory to cultivate the true, comprehending the mysteries of the inner and outer worlds in order to prolong life, or even achieve immortality. While immortality is impossible, with successful cultivation of Daoist arts, prolonging life is not a problem.

They had seen Taoist priests in their 6s and 70s whose physiques were better than those of young people in their 2s and 30s. They used qigong massage to heal people, and it was very effective. However, they could not fight. Putting aside whether they knew how to fight, the main problem was that once they were injured, it would take a long time to heal their injuries, which was not the same as martial arts or qigong.

Zhang Xuansong's current abilities are actually due to a change in his approach; otherwise, even if he lost a leg, he would still look at least ten years younger and wouldn't look as old as the two of them.

It's only because Chen Fan had a cheat code that he was able to master two completely different qigong techniques. Otherwise, he could only choose one, or he could learn from the Taoist sages and hide in the deep mountains and forests to practice for decades, which would be about the same.

Chen Fan busied himself in the kitchen and finally finished cooking.

First move the tables and chairs, then serve the food.

After the three old men sat down at the table, he brought out the last large pot of rice. After sitting down, he said, "I left a portion in the cupboard. When you have time, take it to Grandpa Liu. This is all food, not as stimulating as medicine. It's milder and good for your health."

As she spoke, she took out two pieces of paper from her pocket and handed them to Lin Yuanxiang. "These are recipes I wrote for Grandpa Liu. Apart from lard, they are all very common vegetables. Cook for him according to these recipes, rotating them every ten days. Although they can't cure diseases, they can help maintain his health and reduce the chances of him getting sick in the future."

Lin Yuanxiang quickly snatched it away, holding it in his hands like a precious treasure, "Really?"

Chen Fan grinned and chuckled, "Anyway, once this prescription is sent over, the health care doctor will definitely check it. Let him check to see if there are any problems, and then we can just try it for two months, that's all."

Oh, and keep a copy for yourselves too. This formula is very mild and effective for most people. It won't cause any harm to anyone; at most, it might not work for a very small number of people.

Among the books he obtained from Master Lu were several works on dietary therapy, including "Essentials of Diet and Nutrition" by Hu Sihui, a court physician in the Yuan Dynasty; "New Book on Longevity and Elderly Care" by Zou Xuan; and "Eight Treatises on Nourishing Life" by Gao Lian of the Ming Dynasty.

In addition, my research on chemistry, biology, and especially medicine over the past six months has given me a lot of insights into food therapy.

However, just like medicine, dietary therapy must be tailored to the individual. It was only after meeting Liu Shuai that he pondered deeply for many days before finally coming up with this dietary therapy prescription.

This meal, including today's, was a top-quality therapeutic meal carefully selected from more than a dozen kinds of wild game and made with a variety of medicinal herbs. He first used this highly nourishing ingredient as a "medicinal guide," and then used a mild and nourishing formula to regulate their constitution, which should improve their physical condition.

Even if it doesn't prolong life, at least it can reduce illness and pain, which is his way of showing his good intentions.

Seeing Lin Yuanxiang carefully hide the prescription like a treasure, Zhang Xuansong's face lit up with a smile. "Good, good, this is good. We'll send it over later."

He paused for a moment, coughed lightly, and said to Chen Fan, "You did a good job on this, you deserve a reward."

With a roe deer leg in his mouth, Chen Fan didn't have time to speak, so he looked at him with his eyes, wondering what the reward was.
Zhang Xuansong laughed and said, "Now that your house is built, does that count as a reward?"

house?

Chen Fan's eyes widened. Construction on the house started on March 13th, and today is April 2nd. It's only been 20 days, and the house is already finished?
He couldn't help but snap the roe deer's leg bone in half with a snap, chewed it a few times with the meat, and swallowed it. "Are you kidding me? It takes at least half a month to build a two-story brick house in the countryside. My design was a four-story multi-purpose building, a small building with a higher construction difficulty, and a front garden and a two-story small building. It's all finished in just 20 days?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Xuansong and the other two exchanged glances, and after a couple of seconds, they couldn't help but throw their heads back and burst into laughter.

Chen Fan looked around. What was going on?
After laughing for a while, Zhang Xuansong finally stopped and explained to him, "This is what happened. At first, Director Li arranged for the No. 2 team of the Municipal Construction Company to carry out the construction. The entire construction period was expected to be two to three months."

But as soon as they entered the site, several other construction teams, having heard the news, rushed in, saying they wanted a piece of the pie.

Chen Fan felt a little dizzy. "How do we divide this?"

He's already paid the money, and the bill is being charged to Construction Team 2. If the others come over now, aren't they just helping out for free? I've only ever heard of people scrambling for credit, never of people scrambling to do the work.

Lin Yuanxiang chuckled from the side, "You wouldn't believe it, ever since the memorial hall was completed, their construction company hasn't received any major projects. They've only been doing repairs on houses and old buildings. Now that they've finally got a big job building two 'skyscrapers,' how can the other teams not be envious?"

Li Shangde picked up a piece of tiger meat and chewed it slowly. He then said, "We often go to the construction site and talk to them a lot. They're not doing it for the money. They're all just getting paid anyway, so whoever earns the money is contributing to the company. They're just worried that if they don't work on big projects for too long, they might become rusty."

"Plus, the design drawings you gave them were really good, especially the two-story house you live in..."

Upon hearing this, Chen Fan quickly interrupted, "The dormitory, that's the staff dormitory!"

Zhang Xuansong rolled his eyes. "Are you kidding me? You call that a dormitory? After it's renovated, even the houses of landlords and rich people won't be as grand as it. Which employee are you going to use it as a dormitory for?"

Lin Yuanxiang nodded repeatedly, "Yes, tell me which unit it is. We old guys will go and help out too. We don't need wages, we can just stay in that dormitory."

Chen Fan chuckled dryly, "If you want to stay here, that's easy. Move in today, and I'll carry your luggage for you!"

"Forget it, the house is too big for me."

Lin Yuanxiang rolled his eyes and continued, "Anyway, in the end, five construction teams came to the site together. Not only did they bring in excavators, cranes, and trucks, but they even moved a cement mixer over. I've never seen so many people working together with so much construction machinery before, except when they were building the memorial hall."

With manpower, machinery, and a guaranteed supply of all materials, do you still think it's difficult to build it in 20 days?

(Stationary concrete mixer from the 70s)

Chen Fan was completely stunned by what he heard, his eyes glazed over, unsure of what to say.

I just wanted to keep a low profile, but you've turned this into a celebrity project for me!
Zhang Xuansong knew exactly what he was thinking and immediately laughed, "Don't worry, I'll take the blame for you. There really were some blind fools who reported it to the unit. When the leaders investigated, they found that I used my own money to buy land and build houses, and the person in charge was the Housing Management Bureau. Everything was reasonable and legal, and no one could find fault with it."

"It's just that the house is a bit bigger, and some people are unhappy about it. I told them to go find the old political commissar, but none of them had the guts. They just muttered and complained, not daring to take a single step."

He turned to look at Lin Yuanxiang and asked, "How dare those bastards challenge us to a battle back then?"

"Stay calm, stay calm."

Lin Yuanxiang mimicked his apprentice's tone, saying, "They're old rivals. It would be strange if they didn't step in. It would be the same if he bought a house. Aren't you going to make a scene?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Xuansong nodded in agreement, "That's true."

Chen Fan almost spat out a mouthful of meat, and quickly gulped down a mouthful of wine to swallow it.

Well, so this is what kind of comrades you are?!

They ate quickly. Under the guidance of their three masters, Chen Fan carried two food boxes to Grandpa Liu first. Then, without lingering, the four of them went to see the new house together.

Along Shichahai Lake, many men, women, and children were dancing ballroom dances and practicing Tai Chi in the park. (A group of people dancing at the Summer Palace in 79)

Chen Fan walked forward with his head held high, his eyes fixed straight ahead. He joined the elderly men and women practicing Tai Chi in expressing their disdain for the dancers, lamenting the decline of morality.

Although the three old men were disabled or missing parts, they were not slow. Even Zhang Xuansong, who was missing a leg, wielded his cane so skillfully that he could walk faster than the young man, even with his toes touching the ground.

Before long, the group arrived at the new house.

Zhang Xuansong took out a bunch of keys and tossed them to him, saying, "The locks have been changed; here are the keys."

Chen Fan unlocked the door, then returned the key, saying, "You can keep it; I'm not usually here."

As he spoke, he pushed open the door and walked inside.

After they all went inside, Lin Yuanxiang slammed the door shut behind him and said irritably, "Why didn't you buy such a big plot of land here to build a house? I should really give you a good talking-to."

Chen Fan ignored him and headed straight for the small building.

The building is predominantly bluish-gray, blending seamlessly with its surroundings, yet its design is quite different.

The bottom floor is the basement, about one meter above the ground. The door on the first floor is naturally that high, with an arched ramp at the entrance that embraces the stairs.

The ramp can accommodate a small car to enter and exit, and outside the stairs is a nearly 500-square-meter open space paved with city bricks.

Chen Fan pushed open the door along the ramp and entered, revealing a spacious hall in front of him.

The entire building occupies 256 square meters, while the hall in front of us is nearly 150 square meters. Round pillars support the floorboards. On the left is a set of sofas and chairs, which is obviously the living room, and on the right is a large tea table.

Turn south around a pillar, and there's a large round table and chairs there, which is naturally where you eat.

The most striking feature, however, is the beam of sunlight that descends from the sky in the very center of the house, shining on the dark teak floor. The smooth floor reflects the light, making the whole house bright and airy.

The roof of the house was originally designed by Chen Fan to be divided into several parts. The middle part, about 16 square meters in area, was designed in the shape of a pyramid and was fitted with architectural glass of the same quality as marine special glass, which can withstand storms and rain.

This glass pyramid is slightly shorter than the surrounding roofs, making it completely invisible to outsiders, but sunlight can stream in unobstructed, bringing bright natural light to the vast building.

Besides letting in light, the roof also has four inconspicuous ventilation vents that can be closed in winter and opened when it gets hot, so the air blows into the room and it doesn't feel stuffy at all.

The first floor has a living room, tea room, dining room, kitchen, and two bedrooms.

Ascend the sunlit wooden V-shaped staircase on the north side of the inner courtyard to the second floor, where you first encounter a corridor that encircles the inner courtyard.

Chen Fan patted the smooth railing of the corridor, a few black lines appearing on his forehead. The design drawings only indicated that wooden railings should be used, but they used Hainan rosewood for all of them. Although this wood only costs 3 cents a pound, there is a lot of it. I don't know if the money is enough.

He's really broke now; the royalties haven't arrived yet, unless he uses the ten thousand yuan that Master Zhang left him!
Oh well, the house is already built anyway. Even if I don't have enough money, I'll just owe it for now. I can always write more books to pay off the debt.

Fortunately, the wooden stairs and floors were made of ordinary teak, otherwise he would have really been in debt for a lot of money.

Surrounding the corridor were rooms of various functions. Chen Fan casually pushed open one, and the huanghuali furniture inside made his eyelids twitch.

At this moment, Lin Yuanxiang waved to him, "Come over here, the master bedroom is here."

Chen Fan immediately walked over quickly.

This is a room facing due south, and it has double doors.

Knowing his own design, Chen Fan pushed open the door with both hands. The first thing that caught his eye was a row of bright windows. He walked to the window and took in the view of the outside scenery.

Yeah, it's just a bit bad.

There are no problems with the two-story building in the shape of the character "冂" not far away, the pavilion, the stone steps, the rockery, and the covered walkway.

However, the garden, which is nearly a thousand square meters in size, is completely bare, with no flowers, trees, or other plants yet.

The pond was filled with water, and with the help of a small waterwheel, the water flowed along the ditch, forming a circle of flowing water.

Zhang Xuansong walked to his side and said with a smile, "That's water drawn from Shichahai. There's also a water pipe buried underground, which means the water here is connected to Shichahai. If there's water in Shichahai, there's water here too. And it's running water."

Li Shangde also came over and said, "He's the designer, you don't need to tell me."

Zhang Xuansong rolled his eyes, not wanting to pay him any attention.

Chen Fan chuckled twice before turning around to look around the room.

The master bedroom is divided into two parts, separated by a full-wall openwork screen. The entrance space also functions as a small study, with a set of Phoebe zhennan wood furniture placed against the wall. The bookshelves are filled with books I bought at a Chinese bookstore before my last trip to Northeast China.

That desk was so big it was like a calligraphy and painting table, big enough for him to wield his brush and ink.

In the corner, there are dozens of scrolls of calligraphy and paintings in a painting vat. Some of them were exchanged with calligraphers and painters such as Qi Gong, and 36 pieces of calligraphy and paintings bought from Rongbaozhai are also in there.

Passing through the screen leads to the bedroom, where a two-meter-long and two-meter-wide golden nanmu bed is placed in the middle with its back against the screen, flanked by two bedside tables on either side, and a large wardrobe that covers the entire north wall.

Chen Fan seriously doubted whether the wood used in this house would eventually be more expensive than the house itself!

Lin Yuanxiang walked over and sighed, saying, "These pieces of wood are too expensive. The 5 yuan you paid wasn't enough. I added another 3000 yuan for you, and it all went into these pieces of wood. They're too expensive!"

Chen Fan raised an eyebrow slightly. So that's how it is!
He immediately grasped his master's hand and said solemnly, "Master, I will definitely take care of you in your old age."

Lin Yuanxiang rolled his eyes. "Get lost! The country supports me, why would I need you to support me? Tell me, are you trying to take advantage of my pension?!"

Chen Fan awkwardly let go of her hand, "No, your pension is only a few dollars."

Lin Yuanxiang's eyes widened. "Huh?"

Chen Fan quickly walked forward, "Let me check the restroom."

Near the window on the east wall, there is another door; pushing it open leads to a bathroom.

This is when you can see the drawback of the city bricks: they take up too much space. Including the mortar and plaster used to coat the wall, the wall is nearly a foot thick.

However, it does provide insulation and moisture protection, so you don't have to worry about the moisture in the bathroom affecting the bedroom.

After showing Chen Fan the master bedroom, the three old men went down to sit at the tea table, while Chen Fan ran around on his own.

Including the two rooms downstairs, the building has a total of 8 rooms, six of which are designed as bedrooms and two as reception rooms or leisure rooms.

Go up a relatively hidden stairwell at the corner of the second floor to reach the attic, which has been set up as a study. The bookshelves are no longer made of woods like rosewood or nanmu, but rather teak, which is much cheaper.

Rows of tall bookshelves are placed against the wall, leaving a spacious area in the middle where a few tables and chairs are placed, so you can drink tea and read books.

However, there were no books on the bookshelf at the moment, waiting for him to go and buy them.

Chen Fan wandered around casually, then climbed up the stairs in the southwest corner to the roof.

Standing on the rooftop, you can see the Shichahai Lake and courtyard houses in the distance, as well as the gardens nearby.

It's a great spot for a panoramic view... it's just a bit cold.

I don't know if it's because of the cold air blowing in from the Northeast, but it's already the 26th day of the second lunar month, and it still feels like it's going to snow.

Chen Fan wrapped his clothes tighter, turned around and went downstairs, all the way to the basement. Hmm, it was empty and there was nothing to see, so he went out again.

After leaving the courtyard and locking the gate, Zhang Xuansong looked at him and asked, "When are you going to use this house?"

Chen Fan clicked his tongue. "I haven't decided yet."

Zhang Xuansong was speechless. "I haven't figured out why you built this."

Lin Yuanxiang also pointed to the four-story complex building separated by a wall, "And that one, didn't you say you wanted to build an office for the machinery factory? They're building an automobile factory, so they'll definitely be coming to the Ministry of Machinery Industry often. It'll be perfect for them."

Chen Fan pursed his lips and nodded, "Yes, that makes sense."

But in his heart, he was thinking that when he got back, he would persuade Director Yang to buy a courtyard house near the Ministry of Machine Building in the name of the company, and then Director Yang would thank him later.

Let's keep this for ourselves. It's already 78, and some bolder people have started setting up affiliated companies. Although it's just small-scale, as long as no one stops them, it will soon spread. So we can start doing this by next year or the year after at the latest.

Why not just start your own magazine or publishing house, affiliate with any writers' association, write your own books and earn your own money? Wouldn't that be great?!
Seeing that he readily agreed, Lin Yuanxiang and his group didn't say anything more and headed back home.

……

Chen Fan carried two empty suitcases back to the First Ministry of Machine Building's guesthouse and met up with Director Yang and the others.

Upon seeing him, Director Yang immediately waved the documents in his hand with great excitement, "Look, the approvals have all come through. We'll go back today and start setting up the car factory right away."

Chen Fan glanced at it, "I'm not looking."

He then extended both hands and walked towards a middle-aged man in his fifties wearing black-rimmed glasses, saying, "Hello, Mr. Qu."

Qu Bo stood up, leaning on his two crutches, clenched his fists tightly, and asked curiously, "Do you know me?"

No one introduced him to anyone just now.

Chen Fan smiled and said, "Mr. Qu's name is known throughout the country; there aren't many people who don't know you."

His real name is Qu Bo, and his pen name is also Qu Bo. General Chen gave him a courtesy name, "Pulu," which means universal law, because his name contains both "qu" (曲) and "bo" (波), which represents a universal law.

He wrote a book in the 50s called "Tracks in the Snowy Forest," yes, the one about Zuo Shandiao.

As for why he was here, it was naturally for work reasons.

That's right, he was the deputy director of the First Design Institute of the Ministry of Machinery Industry, and this design institute was in the field of mechanical design, especially vehicle design, which happened to be Chen Fan's area.

Qu Bo laughed and said, "You flatter me, you flatter me. Now your name is going to surpass mine."

Chen Fan quickly shook his head, "Not at all, not at all."

Qu Bo laughed again, "Not bad, not bad. My new book 'Mountain Roar and Sea Tsunami' published last year didn't get many readers, while your 'Ferryman,' 'Old Stories,' and 'Reed Marsh' are all excellent novels that have sparked heated discussions in society. That's already surpassing me. Besides, you're still young, and you'll definitely have more and better works published in the future. It's only natural that you'll surpass me."

Furthermore, I've also heard Mr. Mao Dun mention that you suggested to the Writers' Association that they establish an award, which is excellent, and I fully support it.

After a pause, he continued, "Look, we're both writers and mechanical designers. Isn't that fate? Why don't you come to the design institute? You'll definitely have a great future there."

Chen Fan's expression stiffened slightly. Why are they coming again?

He even forgot to respond to his self-deprecation. Quite a few people still read "The Mountain Roars and the Sea Tsunami," but its fame is indeed far less than that of "Tracks in the Snowy Forest."

Director Yang and the other two were anxiously watching as Qu Bo poached more people.

No, we have to run!

Qu Bo chuckled upon seeing this, "Alright, it seems you're still not happy. I won't force you. Let's communicate more in the future, okay?"

Chen Fan nodded quickly, "Definitely, definitely."

Fearing that things might change if they waited too long, Director Yang decided to set off immediately.

The three of them, plus Chen Fan (four in total), along with two people each from the Ministry of Machine Building and the First Automobile Works, bought eight soft sleeper tickets and boarded the train heading south.

Chen Fan was somewhat disappointed. He had wanted to fly, but it seemed he would have to wait until next time.

……

The journey involved trains, cars, and ships. I left on February 15th and returned on April 5th.

What a wonderful day, it's Qingming Festival.

(End of this chapter)