Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 666 Room allocation
Chen Fan drove his car, making a few turns, and arrived at the riverbank.

Before they even arrived at their destination, Lin Liwen craned her neck and looked around. Suddenly, she asked in a low voice, "Xiao Fan, where are you taking us?"

Chen Fan smiled, turned around and said, "Don't worry, I won't sell you out."

Then he pointed ahead and said, "We're almost there. There's a restaurant here that has pretty good food. Let's go there for dinner today."

Not far ahead?

Xia Yuping couldn't help but widen her eyes, "You're not going to take us to a wild game restaurant, are you?"

Chen Fan chuckled, "You guys knew?"

You were just saying you knew nothing? That's it?

Unaware that they had been exposed, Lin Liwen clung to the seat in front of her and said happily, "It really is a wild game restaurant? We've been there once, and their wild game braised noodles are especially delicious, but unfortunately you need a special noodle ticket."

Xia Yuping nodded repeatedly, "We went to eat with our classmates. She only managed to gather a few tickets, just enough for everyone in our dorm to have a meal. We haven't eaten there since."

He immediately lowered his voice, his expression extremely cautious, as if he were going to a rendezvous, "Where did you get the vouchers? Was it difficult?"

"I don't have a ticket."

Chen Fan turned around and looked at them, smiled and said, "Actually, you don't need a ticket to eat."

The two women exchanged a glance, then turned to look at him simultaneously. "How can we eat without tickets?"

Before we knew it, the car had arrived at the entrance of the wild game restaurant.

Drive to the parking space, stop the car, engage the handbrake, and get out of the car.

After the two women came down, Chen Fan pointed inside and said, "Just follow me and you'll see."

It was just lunchtime, and the lobby on the first floor was already about half full. The noodle tables were quick to turn over, and during the four-hour dinner period, they could probably sell over a thousand bowls.

If we wait until after the reform and opening up and take over this store, this one store alone could create several households with tens of thousands of yuan in income within a year.

This is a small gold mine.

However, it didn't last long, because then the Wildlife Protection Law came along, and there were no more wild game restaurants!
Lin Liwen and Xia Yuping followed Chen Fan inside, and were about to find a seat when they turned around and saw Chen Fan heading straight for the stairs.

Chen Fan didn't hear the footsteps following behind him, so he stopped, turned around, and smiled, "Why aren't you moving?"

The two exchanged a glance, and without thinking twice, quickly followed, saying, "We're here."

When I went up to the second floor, it was the same manager.

The second floor is different from the first floor. The first floor is "self-service," where you buy tickets at the cashier and pick them up at the window. The second floor, however, has staff to assist you.

In the early days, there was a specific term for this profession: "waiter".

Being a waiter is not just about greeting guests, serving tea and dishes; it also requires remembering the guests. Some people have such good memories that they can remember a guest clearly even if the guest has only been there once, as long as the time interval is not too long.

During the Republic of China era, many unscrupulous bosses used this as a performance evaluation criterion. If a customer came once but couldn't remember the waiter, the waiter would not be promoted and would only receive a meager apprentice's wage forever.

However, if someone can become a qualified waiter, greeting and seeing off guests without any mistakes, then they can be considered for promotion to become a prospective manager.

The fact that this manager was specifically in charge of receiving foreign guests on the second floor of a restaurant specializing in wild game shows that he was no ordinary person; he was almost as experienced as a waiter in the restaurant back in the day.

Not to mention that Chen Fan came three or four times in a year, each time ordering a large table of dishes. Coupled with his outstanding appearance, it was impossible for him not to remember him.

So as soon as the three of them went up to the second floor, the manager, who was wearing a Zhongshan suit, quickly stepped forward and greeted them with a smile, "Mr. Chen, welcome. Your usual private room is available. Would you like to sit in your usual spot, or would you like to move to a larger one?"

The implication was that he was asking if anyone else was coming.
Chen Fan smiled and said, "The usual spot, thanks."

"You're welcome, you should."

The manager gestured, "This way, please, all three of you."

After leading them to the private room, Chen Fan took the seat of honor without hesitation. After asking the two if they had any dietary restrictions, he ordered ten dishes as usual.

It wasn't that he wanted to take the leftovers home or eat everything to scare them, but rather that he wanted to save face. He figured if they couldn't finish it, they could take it back with them.

Lin Liwen and Xia Yuping did not come from ordinary families, nor were they from wealthy families. In the small area of ​​Yunhu, with their family backgrounds, they could at least get some respect from people in various units, if not without violating principles.

But this is the provincial capital. Not to mention their elders, even if the leaders from Yunhu District came, they might not be able to get along well.

Not to mention such places that cater to foreigners, all staff are carefully selected and the vast majority of guests are foreign visitors. Ordinary people who come here don't even dare to speak loudly, for fear of disturbing the foreign guests and affecting foreign exchange plans.

However, the fact that the person who seemed to be a leader was so polite to Chen Fan made both of them somewhat suspicious.

The meal was undoubtedly delicious, but the taste was a mixed bag of emotions for them.

After finishing the meal, more than half of the food was left over. Chen Fan took out his remittance certificates and banknotes to pay the bill, and then skillfully asked the waiter to pack it up, even finding a special box to carry it.

After dropping them off at school and stopping at the dormitory entrance, I handed them the food box. "Don't waste it. Take it and heat it up in the kitchen. It'll last you for a few days. Go back and rest. I should go back to my unit now. I'll treat you to a meal next time I have time."

After saying that, he waved goodbye to the two of them.

Lin Liwen blankly accepted it and waved to Chen Fan.

After watching the car drive away, quite a while later, she suddenly noticed a hand waving in front of her.

She snapped out of her daze and turned to look at Xia Yuping. "What are you doing?"

Xia Yuping looked at her, her expression no better than hers. "What are you thinking about?"

Lin Liwen looked at her, then down at the food box in her hand, and finally looked up in the direction the car had gone. After several seconds, she turned back to her and smiled, "I was wondering if this food could be kept until tomorrow?"

Hearing this, Xia Yuping was stunned for a moment, and looked at her intently, "Are you alright?"

Lin Liwen took a deep breath, her smile vanished, and she forced a smile, saying, "What could have happened? It's just that I've come to terms with it and given up."

What does it mean to invite someone to such an upscale wild game restaurant and spend almost 200 yuan on a single meal?
Xia Yuping recalled the dinner party that evening and suddenly felt a pang of sadness. After a while, she suddenly took Lin Liwen's arm and pulled her towards the dormitory building, laughing as she said, "I also thought it was unlikely to stay until tomorrow. Let me tell you, the dormitory supervisor has a coal stove, and Xiaofang is very close to her, so we can borrow it to heat up the food. Also, Xiaoli is from the north and has a habit of hiding steamed buns, and Rongrong is from the Northeast, so she has some wine... See, isn't that all we need!"

Lin Liwen turned to look at her, "Then shall we drink until we drop tonight?"

Xia Yuping tightened her grip on her arm and chuckled, "We must drink until we drop. We weren't full just now, so we can eat more now."

Lin Liwen: "Are you going to drink yourself into oblivion or eat your fill?"

Xia Yuping said, "Don't be too rigid in your thinking. Didn't the newspapers say that we should liberate our minds? We can hold on until we give up!"

……

Chen Fan returned to the guesthouse and had a good night's sleep.

The next morning, after waking up, I first got some meat strips from the canteen to feed the birds, and then, as usual, let the three little birds out. I then headed straight to the Writers' Association office, which was not far away.

There were an unusually large number of people at the workplace today. When they saw Chen Fan return, those who were of a certain rank came forward to greet him, while those who weren't also waved to him from the side.

This is the respect and admiration that Director Chen earned in his workplace through his own abilities.

Anyone who can increase the company's annual revenue by 400,000 to 500,000 yuan and build new dormitories will be loved and respected by the majority of employees and cadres!
Chen Fan waved back and forth, accepting a handful of cigarettes, before being stopped by Lao Duan.

Lao Duan and Chen Fan are in the same department, the External Relations Department. However, Chen Fan is in the Europe and America branch, while Lao Duan is in the stable Asia and Africa branch.

Chen Fan extorted a lot of cigarettes and alcohol from him for this.

But the external relations department hasn't officially started business contacts yet, and there hasn't even been any hospitality, so where would the cigarettes and alcohol come from?

Aren't they all Lao Duan's own welfare products, or even dried goods he bought himself?

Therefore, if you were to ask who suffers the most in the workplace, it would definitely be Lao Duan.

This time, Director Duan actually took the initiative to intercept Chen Fan; it seems he has much more to plan!

Old Duan pulled me into the office, where there were several other people: Director Xiong from the Research and Development Department, Deputy Director Wang Zibo, and Old Zhong from the Liaison Department.

Adding Chen Fan and Lao Duan, these individuals can be considered the "backbone" of the current Writers Association. Above them are He Qingsheng, Tan Yong, and Xu Qizhen.

In other words, apart from the office and finance departments, all of the company's main middle and senior management personnel were present.

Of course, there are more than just these few people in the Writers' Association, but since the functions are not yet fully developed, they are currently filling in the gaps. It is estimated that the full staff will be filled after the meeting next month.

Chen Fan was surrounded by them, somewhat confused. "What are you doing?"

Old Duan pulled out a cigarette and offered it to him, but Chen Fan quickly waved his hand, stretched out his left hand, and held out a bunch of cigarettes. "Come on, everyone gets a share. Take whatever you get."

Old Duan immediately put away his cigarette and grabbed one, saying, "Hey, Peony, not bad."

Old Xiong smoked a Platinum Dragon, Wang Zibo took a Magnolia, and Old Zhong finally reached out and took a Zhonghua, laughing nonstop.

Chen Fan put the rest into his pocket and then lit it on the lighter that Lao Duan handed him.

After exhaling a cloud of smoke, Old Duan finally spoke, "Did you receive advance notice and just happen to come back today?"

Chen Fan turned to look at him. "What news?"

Wang Zibo was quite surprised, "You didn't know?"

Chen Fan snorted twice, "I only heard about this meeting from Lao Guo, what do I know?" Director Xiong chuckled, "If you really don't know, that's ridiculous. Today is the day the construction company hands over the houses to the Writers Association, Music Association, Artists Association, Dramatists Association, and the Department of Culture. Our new arts and culture village is finished!"

Old Zhong continued, "Speaking of which, the Art Village was only brought about because of your suggestion. Even the funds for building the houses were earned by you..."

Before he could finish speaking, Chen Fan quickly waved his hand, "Stop. I only offered one suggestion, saying that it was something I earned back, which is going too far. To be precise, it should be everyone's credit and the collective achievement."

"Alright, alright, you're really raising your voice."

Old Zhong flicked his cigarette ash and said to him, "Let's get down to business. I heard from Secretary Xu that from the very beginning, only your house was decided; everyone else has to choose another..."

Upon hearing this, Chen Fan raised his hand again to express his objection, "I bought that house with my own money. If you're willing to spend money, you can reserve it in advance."

After these words were spoken, everyone fell silent.

Although they are not short of money, why should they spend money to buy a house when they can get it for free?

Chen Fan glanced at them a few times and chuckled, "You're asking me about this? I can tell you frankly that Sister Xu is in charge of the house. She hasn't given me any information. If you hadn't told me, I wouldn't have known I was about to take possession of the house."

Chen Fan tossed his cigarette butt into the ashtray, patted Lao Duan's arm, and chuckled, "Instead of asking me, we might as well go and ambush Sister Xu together. At least we'd know what the plan is, right?"

The group exchanged glances, and after a few seconds, they all threw away their cigarette butts. Old Duan took the lead, opened the door and went out, followed closely by the others, and they disappeared in a flash.

Chen Fan walked to the door, looked down the corridor, and saw that they had all gone into Xu Qizhen's office. He couldn't help but grin and chuckle.

I told you not to tell me anything, now let's see if you still have a headache!
Bian Huifang strolled leisurely back to her office, where she was busy at her desk.

Seeing Chen Fan enter, she stood up abruptly, her face full of surprise, "Director, you're back!"

As she spoke, she reached for a teacup to make him some tea.

Chen Fan waved his hand, "I have a cup, I can just add some water."

She closed the door behind her, walked to her seat, took out her travel teacup, and waited for Bian Huifang to pour the tea before looking at her and asking, "Has anything important happened lately?"

Bian Huifang stood obediently in front of the desk, shook her head and said, "Nothing serious. The correspondence center is doing very well, and the magazine 'Literary Youth' is being published regularly. It has a good reputation and is generating good revenue."

These days, most people are ashamed to talk about profits, but instead prioritize reputation. It was Chen Fan who repeatedly taught her that she must learn to be "self-reliant" and not cause trouble for the organization.

Bian Huifang then began to pay attention to income, and is now showing a tendency to align herself with He Qingsheng and others; in short, she is "pragmatic".

Chen Fan nodded, feeling that there shouldn't be any problems. Just as he was about to speak, Bian Huifang suddenly remembered something, tapped her head, and said seriously, "By the way, Director, there's something I need to discuss with the US 'International Writing Program.' Chairman He handled it personally, so I haven't been following up since and don't know how things are going."

Hearing this, Chen Fan narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment, then looked up and smiled, "It's alright. Since Chairman He is handling it personally, we don't need to worry about it. We can just wait for the results."

Bian Huifang chuckled dryly and said, "I'm worried that if we suddenly have to cooperate with outside partners again, I'm afraid I won't be able to handle it and it will delay things."

Chen Fan waved his hand, "It's alright, I know what I'm doing."

He paused for a moment, then laughed and said, "At worst, it'll be like the correspondence center, where we take the lead in coordinating and dispatching people from other departments to complete the task."

Upon hearing this, Bian Huifang fell silent.

Chen Fan took a sip of tea, looked up at her, and smiled, "I heard we're going to take possession of the new house today. Have you submitted your application yet?"

Bian Huifang smiled and said, "My home is nearby and it's quite spacious, so I didn't report it."

Chen Fan pointed at her and said, "You, I'm not trying to criticize you, but this kind of out-of-touch approach is unacceptable!"

Bian Huifang's eyes widened. "Huh?"

Is it not enough to just promote good conduct?

Chen Fan tapped the table, his face serious, and said, "You, a young person just entering society, at the very beginning of your career, when you have nothing..."

Bian Huifang glanced up, thinking to herself, "I'm not penniless, am I?"

Chen Fan continued, "This time, the company is building dormitories, and there are plenty of them, with all kinds of room types. You might not be able to get a large room, but you shouldn't have any problem getting a single room, right?!"
If you think your own home is enough and you don't apply, what will people with housing difficulties think? Won't they think you're being pretentious, or that you come from a well-off family and look down on company dormitories?

Upon hearing this, Bian Huifang was so frightened that her hair stood on end. She quickly raised her hands and waved them, "I didn't, Director!"

Chen Fan tapped the table. "I was just saying, why are you so nervous?"

He paused for two seconds, then looked at her and asked, "Does anyone know that your family is well-off?"

Bian Huifang's eyes darted around slightly. "Aunt Xu knows."

Aunt Xu?

Chen Fan gave her a strange look, hesitated for two seconds, and then said, "That's fine. Submit the application in a bit and request a single room."

Bian Huifang said "Oh" and agreed.

Although she didn't understand why her elders told her not to compete for benefits, while the director told her to take the initiative to apply, she also knew that her family also told her to listen to the leaders.

Since that's the case, then let's just listen to the director.

Anyway, the director is so capable, he definitely wouldn't harm me.

That is to say, she has self-awareness and knows that someone as ordinary-looking and ordinary-ability as her is not good enough for him; otherwise, she might have thought that the director was interested in her.

Oh dear, I'm so shy.

Chen Fan took a few sips of tea and noticed that she suddenly blushed, which puzzled him.

He then put the lid on the teacup, picked it up, and got up to leave, saying, "You go ahead with your work, I'm going to check on Sister Xu."

"Oh."

Bian Huifang responded, then suddenly sensed something was wrong.

I call her Aunt Xu, but the director calls me Sister Xu. However, the director is a year younger than me. Isn't that confusing?

……

When Chen Fan arrived at Xu Qizhen's office with a teacup, not only were Lao Duan and the others there, but He Qingsheng and Tan Yong were also present.

The office door wasn't closed, so he walked right in, glanced around, and then chuckled, "Everyone's here, are you all moving in?"

He Qingsheng was pleasantly surprised to see him and immediately offered him a cigarette, asking, "When did you get back?"

Tan Yong, with his legs crossed, chuckled and said, "Is it also for the sake of room allocation?"

Before Chen Fan could speak, Xu Qizhen, who was surrounded by people, said, "His house was already decided from the beginning, so what's the point of dividing it up?"

He then stood up helplessly and said to Lao Duan and the others, "There are plenty of houses. You are all cadres. If you include all the units, there aren't many people higher up than you. Tell me yourselves, what are you doing here?"

Chen Fan sat down on the sofa, adding fuel to the fire, "They even blocked my way just now."

Upon hearing this, Xu Qizhen was speechless and stared at the ceiling.

Old Duan retorted confidently, "Although there are many houses, good floors and orientations are limited, so we have to compete for them!"

Old Xiong and the others nodded in unison, but the next second, they suddenly realized something and glared at each other angrily.

Chen Fan watched from the sidelines, chuckling to himself. So they were both cooperating and competing?

Xu Qizhen slapped her forehead, decisively picked up her briefcase, and said to Lao Duan and the others, "I need to go to the Urban Construction Committee to handle some paperwork now. Are you going to stay here and wait, or come with me?"

Old Duan and the others exchanged glances, decisively made way for Xu Qizhen, and then followed her after she walked out.

Finally, when the office quieted down, He Qingsheng couldn't help but let out a long breath. He turned to Chen Fan and said, "There are clearly plenty of rooms available, enough for everyone, but everyone's acting like crazy. They don't even care about their work anymore, they're just running around looking for houses. Don't you think they're sick in the head?"

Tan Yong was also standing to the side, pretending to wipe away cold sweat, "So this is the hardship of not having a house. I didn't expect that having a house would bring so many troubles. It's really tough."

Chen Fan, however, disagreed. "What hardship? I think it's all just for show. But then again, formalism is important. Go outside and see how other families get their housing. Even though our unit has a lot of housing, we still have to show some respect, otherwise people will be envious and jealous."

He Qingsheng was still wondering what he meant. Chen Fan continued, "Let them do whatever they want. That's how people are. After all, they'll always end up choosing the best option from someone else."

If you ask me, no matter how you divide it, after it's done, give them a chance to switch. Let them negotiate themselves, and whatever the final outcome, that's what it is. Why worry so much?

He Qingsheng and Tan Yong exchanged a glance, both feeling they had chosen the wrong target to criticize.

We're all from the same company, so there's no sense of superiority about us.

But why do I feel so strongly about talking about it with other people in the workplace?
Shaking his head, He Qingsheng put the matter out of his mind and said to Chen Fan, "Have you seen the notice we sent you? Besides the notice, there was also a reply from the association headquarters..."

Just as he was about to continue, he heard Chen Fan say, "Notification letter? I didn't see it."

Turning around, I saw Chen Fan spreading his hands, "I still have more than a dozen bags of letters that I haven't opened. You sent me letters, and I should have received them, but I didn't know they were sent by you."

He Qingsheng was speechless. He rubbed his head, glanced at Tan Yong who was grinning silently, and turned to Chen Fan, saying patiently, "The headquarters' message is that we shouldn't back down because of difficulties. One day, we will take this step."

Although the outside world may have an impact on us comrades, we cannot let this stop us from moving forward. On the contrary, we should engage with the outside world even more.

With proper preparation, I believe there will be a good outcome.

(End of this chapter)