Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 625 Still a Youth?
He took Liu Lu home and cooked a big meal to calm the little girl down.

In a corner of the dining table, three gyrfalcons huddled in a clump of withered grass in a small bamboo basket, their mouths wide open, vying to snatch meat from Jiang Lili and Jiang Tiantian's chopsticks.

Not far away, two raccoons were half-squatting on a chair, drooling as they watched the three little creatures.

Small and tender, they look delicious!
Chen Fan glanced at it and decided to take the gyrfalcon with him. Otherwise, if he left it here to raise, it might die eventually.

Let's see how the three birds bully these two cats when they grow up.

Liu Lu watched as the three little birds devoured half a pound of meat in no time and couldn't help but gasp, "Raising these things is expensive."

They can eat half a pound of meat in one meal, and who knows how many meals they eat in a day.

Chen Fan picked up a small bird, put his finger in its beak, the bird pecked twice, then stopped biting and looked at him with puzzled eyes.

He stroked the bird's head and chuckled softly, "This thing can fly in two months at most. With a little training, it can hunt for itself. It doesn't actually cost much."

Liu Lu thought for a moment, "Master, why don't I take them back to Lujiawan to raise? The cooked food workshop has a lot of chicken giblets every day, I can just feed them a little bit."

Anyway, Master has plenty of animals at home, so these three won't make a difference.

Chen Fan shook his head slightly, "This kind of bird is different. I have to keep it with me to raise it, otherwise it's easy to ruin it."

Seeing that he said that, Liu Lu stopped talking.

That evening, in Chen Fan's room, Jiang Lili quietly packed his luggage, even personally handling the computer so he wouldn't touch it.

However, the reluctance on his face was clearly visible.

Chen Fan sat on the edge of the bed and waited for her to fasten her backpack before pulling her into his arms.

Neither of them spoke; they simply embraced each other gently.

After a long while, Chen Fan lifted her chin and smiled, "Reluctant to part with it?"

Jiang Lili hugged his neck tightly, pressed her face against his, and gave a pitiful "Mmm".

Chen Fan patted her on the back, "Alright, alright, you're such a grown woman, yet you still act like a child. Here, I have some good news to cheer you up."

Jiang Lili still didn't let go, but asked curiously, "What good news?"

Chen Fan: "In the first semester of the first half of the year, I have completed all the credits and only need to pass the thesis defense to graduate. So the teachers no longer require me to go to school to register and attend classes. I just need to register at the beginning of the semester and then go back once a month to report my progress. Otherwise, I am free to do whatever I want."

He stroked his smooth hair and smiled, "So I'll come to see you often from now on, so don't find it annoying."

Hearing this, Jiang Lili was overjoyed and sat up straight to look at him, "Really?"

Chen Fan smiled and nodded gently, "Of course, when have I ever lied to you?"

Jiang Lili hugged him tighter, chuckling without saying a word.

She hugged him for a while before letting go, standing up, and continuing to pack her luggage.

However, her mood was quite different at this moment, and she was even humming a song softly.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Chen Fan called out, "Come in!" The door opened, and Jiang Tiantian walked in slowly, smiling, "Xiao Fan, the hot water is ready. You can go take a shower now."

Then he looked at his younger sister and asked, "Are you done yet? Do you need any help?"

Jiang Lili turned around and smiled, "Alright, there wasn't much to begin with."

She patted the packaged cardboard box, "This computer is the heaviest, but it's not too bad, it didn't take much effort to pack it up."

Jiang Tiantian smiled and raised her eyebrows, "Okay, you should get some rest too."

He then smiled at Chen Fan and turned to leave.

Watching her sister's retreating figure, Jiang Lili pursed her lips, then looked at Chen Fan, her eyes flickering with a hint of something unsaid, but in the end, she remained silent.

When Chen Fan turned his gaze back from the doorway, she was already smiling sweetly, showing no trace of the strangeness from before.

……

Friday, September 9st.

Chen Fan carried a backpack and a small straw basket in his hand. The three little birds had just finished eating and were huddled together inside, sleeping.

Liu Lu dragged her suitcase and jogged behind. Soon they left the airport, boarded a bus, and headed towards the city center of the provincial capital.

Although major cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou have hundreds of taxis, which can basically meet the travel needs of people who can afford it, taxis are not yet widespread in other cities in mainland China, including most provincial capitals.

Take, for example, the capital of Jiangnan Province. It took 70 years for the first taxi company to be established here. The vehicles they used were quite touching: 15 "Jiangnan" brand jeeps manufactured by the Jiangnan Automobile Factory.

It's basically a copy of the BAIC 212. As for the quality, it can be compared to minivans produced by other car manufacturers or vehicles produced by Yunnan Automobile Factory.

It's drafty from all sides, but thankfully it can at least keep out the rain on rainy days.

The provincial capital's taxi company relied on these 15 cars for several years. Around 75, they added more than 20 Fiat sedans and a few Jiefang trucks.

Well, using the Liberation truck as a taxi is a characteristic of this era. I wonder who was using it?
With so few cars, if you put them into the provincial capital's taxi market, they wouldn't even make a ripple.

Therefore, Chen Fan gave up on the idea of ​​taking a taxi and could only take a bus back to the city.

On the bus, Liu Lu asked, "Master, are you going back to Lujiawan?"

Chen Fan thought for a moment, "I didn't originally plan to go back, but I'm worried about you traveling alone. Wait for me in the provincial capital for two days. After I finish taking care of some things, I'll take you back."

Liu Lu laughed heartily, "It's alright. I heard from Company Commander Zhang and the others that we can just take a boat from the dock to Yunhu Passenger Terminal, then go to the Luwan Delicatessen there to stay, and then follow our production team's cargo ship when it arrives."

Chen Fan flicked him on the forehead. "What I'm afraid of is that it's not safe on the ship. Just listen to me."

Liu Lu stuck out her tongue. "Oh."

If it weren't for the robbery in the capital, he would have let Liu Lu go back on her own.

However, that incident served as a wake-up call for him. Now, with a large number of educated youth returning to the city, whether they had returned before or were returning now, or whether they had been sent to the countryside or not, some of them couldn't resist taking advantage of the situation.

Whenever there is a security issue, transportation routes are always the most sensitive points to the situation.

Because stations, docks, and national highways are places with a lot of people coming and going and complex situations, and since ancient times there has been a saying that poor people should be rich when traveling, people usually carry more money with them when they travel by car or boat.

Wealth is a powerful motivator; where there is plenty of money, bad people will naturally follow.

Liu Lu is just a 16-year-old girl who has never left home and has no means of self-defense. If something really happens to her, she will have nowhere to turn for help.

Once we arrived in the city center, we took a different bus and got off at the Cultural Palace.

After settling Liu Lu at the Cultural Palace Guesthouse, Chen Fan walked to the Writers' Association office not far away. Just as he arrived at the gate, Grandpa Xiang came out from the gatehouse. "Oh ho, where did Director Chen go on official business? You've finally decided to come back."

Chen Fan walked over, pulled up a chair, sat down, took out a cigarette and offered it to someone, then started bragging, "You know what, this trip really exhausted me. For over a month, I accompanied the American publisher from south to north, from east to west, covering most of China, and finally managed to negotiate the export of our literary works to the United States."

Grandpa Xiang looked at him with a skeptical expression. "An American publisher? Literary works for export? You're not kidding?"

Chen Fan crossed his legs and exhaled a puff of smoke. "How can I joke about this? Otherwise, if people see that I have no works to publish, wouldn't that be a slap in the face for me?!"

Grandpa Xiang clicked his tongue, moved a chair from the gatehouse and sat down next to him. "So, according to you, you've done a great service?"

Chen Fan: "That's right. After all, I'm the director of the European and American branch of the External Relations Department. If I don't make an effort, who will? This is something I should do."

He sighed softly, flicking off his cigarette ash. "There's nothing I can do. I'm worried about work, so I have no choice but to keep working hard."

Grandpa Xiang suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. If Director Chen wasn't lying and could export literary works, that would be generating foreign exchange for the country. Let him brag if he wanted.

The old man took a drag of his cigarette, his eyes filled with melancholy. "The shrapnel that was just removed from my body was from the northern battlefield. Back then, we fought the Americans to the death. I never imagined that just a few years later, we would make peace and even start doing business together."

People...

He shook his head, exhaled a puff of smoke, and turned to look at Chen Fan. "Hey, what are American publishers like? Are they like the ones in the newspapers, big fat guys wearing big hats, looking like capitalists?"

Chen Fan clicked his tongue, "No, she's just a pretty young girl, and a nice person. Apart from being a bit gossipy, she has no other faults."

Grandpa Xiang immediately became curious, "Such a big deal, and a young girl made the decision? You weren't scammed, were you?"

Chen Fan took the last drag of his cigarette, threw the butt on the ground, and said seriously, "Of course not. The contract has already been signed. Going back on it would mean paying compensation."

Grandpa Xiang looked at him and continued to ask, "So how did you talk to them? Tell me, so I can spread your name among others."

Chen Fan chuckled, stood up, and said, "It's nothing, my uncle's daughter is easy to talk to."

Grandpa Xiang's face darkened. "Get out."

Chen Fan: "Okay."

He then took out a pack of cigarettes from his bag, threw it down, and ran into the government building.

As he entered the building, he greeted us while offering us a cigarette, "I brought some things back, mountain products from Changbai Mountain. I gave them all to the kitchen, so we can have an extra meal later."

Voices immediately came from each office.

"Director Chen is very generous."

"Products from Changbai Mountain? Those are good stuff."

"Director Chen is back from his field trip, so we can't publish three articles in a row. How about we publish 'Jiangnan Literature and Art'?"

“I think the Jiangnan Daily is also good. You have to wait a month for it to be published, but we can see it tomorrow.”

Chen Fan listened to their nonsense with a smile all the way, handed the things to the kitchen, and then leisurely returned to his office.

In the office, Bian Huifang was working diligently. When she heard the office door open, she immediately looked up, a smile spreading across her face, and stood up to call out, "Director, you're back!"

Chen Fan took a gift out of his bag, "A souvenir I brought for you."

Bian Huifang accepted it with both hands, beaming from ear to ear.

Chen Fan returned to his desk, casually tracing the surface with his fingers, and nodded in satisfaction. He then plopped down in his chair, leaning back, and asked her, "Any unexpected events in these past two months?"

Bian Huifang immediately stepped forward and said, "No, the correspondence course and the literary youth magazine are going very smoothly. All the departments are cooperating with me, and there have been no unexpected events."

Chen Fan nodded gently, "That's good."

Since it concerns everyone's welfare, he believed no one would dare to tamper with it.

At that moment, a figure appeared at the office door, knocked lightly, and He Qingsheng said with a dark face, "What, you come back and I have to personally invite you?"

Chen Fan quickly stood up and walked out, "Oh, it's Chairman He, my apologies, how could I let you come to invite me? I'm just about to report to you."

Seeing him like this, He Qingsheng's dark face couldn't stay still, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but grin. "Why do I feel like you're becoming more and more irresponsible?"

Chen Fan pushed him out, saying, "My subordinates are still here, can't you spare them some face?"

In just a few steps, I entered He Qingsheng's office.

Unsurprisingly, Xu Qizhen was also there.

Chen Fan immediately said, "Sister Xu, did you snitch on me?"

Xu Qizhen sat steadily on the sofa, looked at him and smiled, "What, you're not convinced?"

Chen Fan immediately clasped his hands together, saying, "I dare not provoke them."

After sitting down on the sofa, Chen Fan poured himself a cup of tea and asked the two of them, "Why did you call me over in such a hurry? Is there something important?"

He Qingsheng sat opposite him, tossed him a cigarette, and upon hearing his words, grinned from ear to ear, "The sales figures for your first novel from the notebook department have come back. Guess how much it sold in less than two months?"

Chen Fan raised an eyebrow, lit a cigarette and exhaled smoke, then laughed, "Judging from how happy you are, there must be more than ten thousand books. Hmm, let me make a conservative estimate, thirty thousand?"

The minimum print run is 10,000 copies. The contract states that it is 10,000 copies. If there are additional print runs, there will be royalties to be received.

He Qingsheng stood up, pulled a folder from the pile of files on the corner of the table, walked over and handed it to him, "Take a look yourself."

Chen Fan opened the folder, which contained a copy of the contract.

Upon seeing the numbers on the contract, he looked up in astonishment, "An additional 5 printed?"

The first novel was not very long, only about 20 words, priced at 900 yen, with an additional 5 copies printed, for a total price of 4500 million yen. His royalty rate was 14%, which was 630 million yen.

Based on the current exchange rate, there should be another royalty payment of over $3 coming in.

He Qingsheng returned to his seat and smiled at him, "When this book was released to the market, Takahashi Publishing House advertised it as 'China's genius young writer,' which immediately aroused the interest of readers."

After readers finished reading it, they generally felt that the story and literary quality were excellent. This positive word-of-mouth led to a surge in sales, and the first batch of 10,000 copies sold out in just over a week.

He took a sip of tea and continued, "At that time, President Takahashi contacted us urgently, requesting an additional print run. However, you were out at the time and we couldn't reach you immediately. So, a few of us held a meeting and temporarily authorized the project in the name of the company. We'll sign the contract when you come back."

He pointed to the contract in Chen Fan's hand, crossed his legs, and said, "You're not going to turn down money that's practically handed to you, are you?!"

All the terms were agreed upon in advance. This additional contract is just a supplement to the previous contract, so there's really nothing to discuss.

Chen Fan picked up the pen and quickly signed his name, muttering under his breath, "What a terrible idea! Genius boy? I'm almost 18, still a boy?"

(End of this chapter)