Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 679 Making Many Friends
Chen Fan drove alone, heading north and then turning east.

In less than half an hour, we arrived at Beijing Foreign Trade College.

He didn't go inside; instead, he parked his car to the side and walked towards the guardhouse.

The guards at the gate immediately scrutinized him with wary eyes.

Under normal circumstances, the guards only take action in case of emergencies; otherwise, they are like statues.

But for some reason, although this person looked gentle and refined, he felt a little uneasy and couldn't help but grip the gun.

Chen Fan noticed his gaze and movements, immediately slowed his pace, and when he got closer, he smiled and slowly took out his work ID from his pocket and handed it over, saying with a smile, "Comrade, I'm looking for someone."

The guard kept staring at his hands, took the work permit and glanced at it. When he saw the unit and name on it, his pupils dilated instantly, and he turned his head sharply to look at Chen Fan.

Chen Fan remained motionless, but inwardly he was impressed. As expected of the foreign trade system's favored son, even the guards at the gate were veterans who had been on the battlefield. Their vigilance was truly remarkable.

Most importantly, you need to max out your combat instincts! Otherwise, not just anyone can detect your danger.

After several seconds, the guard seemed to finally realize what was happening, returned the work permit, and his expression became kinder. He pointed to the gatehouse next to him and said, "Go there to register."

He then slung his gun back over his shoulder and continued standing guard.

He's just a famous writer. We've met all the leaders of Xiyuan. This is nothing.

Chen Fan thanked him and turned to the window of the guardhouse. As expected, there was an old man wearing an old military uniform inside.

It seems that these days, all the good gatekeeper positions in workplaces are occupied by retired elderly men!

Chen Fan didn't go in. He stood at the window, took out a pack of cigarettes from another pocket, pulled one out and handed it over, "Grandpa, I'm looking for Huang Ying, who majors in foreign trade."

On the table next to the window were neatly arranged letters and newspapers. The old man was sitting behind the table, reading a newspaper. When he heard Chen Fan's words, he didn't move his head, but turned his gaze sharply towards Chen Fan, not even glancing at the cigarette in the old man's hand. "Where did this come from?"

Chen Fan's lips twitched slightly. It had been a long time since he had been treated like this, but he dared not be defiant and could only answer softly, "She's from Jiangnan, from the same village as her."

The old man's eyes were full of disbelief. "I know Huang Ying. Her hometown is Lujiawan in the Yunhu area of ​​Jiangnan. She's from the same place as the great writer Chen Fan. She was even Chen Fan's student. Look at yourself. What part of you looks like someone from a production team? You never tell the truth."

He got even more excited as he spoke, "You're quite a handsome man, there aren't many people better looking than you..."

Chen Fan blinked. "Then thank you."

The old man's gaze shifted downwards, landing on the cigarette in Chen Fan's hand. "Heh, it's a labor brand cigarette. You were in the army?"

Labor Brand was originally known as Pirate Brand and Old Knife Brand during the Republic of China era. This cigarette used these two names back then, but was later changed to Labor Brand in the 1950s.

The reason the old man asked him if he had served in the army was because in the military, the "Old Knife" and "Big Knife" brands were once popular "official cigarettes." Things are better now, but in the 50s and earlier, it was said that only platoon leaders and above could afford to smoke them. This led to many veterans preferring these two brands.

Chen Fan certainly wouldn't buy this; he just casually took it from Master Lin, mainly to present to the old gatekeeper. Unexpectedly, it failed on its first use.

The old man smacked his lips, ultimately unable to resist the temptation of the cigarette, took it, lit it, and continued his criticism, "Since you've served in the military, you should hold yourself to a higher standard. Don't be like those good-for-nothing rascals who go around looking for women and chasing after women as soon as they're discharged. They only learn bad things and not good ones."

A strange look flashed in Chen Fan's eyes. "Sir, are there still troublemakers who dare to come to the school to pat on the back of a woman's clothes?"

The old man glanced at him sideways and said, "Keep pretending. With your thick Beijing accent and official uniform, how could a native of Beijing like you not know these things?"
I'm warning you, this is a school, a university, where everyone is a future pillar of the nation. Graduates from this school will be there to earn foreign exchange for the country. This isn't a place for young people like you to run wild.

Chen Fan chuckled helplessly.

There's nothing we can do about it; the old man is just incredibly vigilant. He's even taking care of things outside his job duties, resolutely preventing unrelated people from disturbing the students.

If anyone has a problem, it's that they didn't show their work ID immediately.

Just as he was about to take out his ID, the guard standing outside couldn't help but turn around and call out, "Hey, Lao Fan, Lao Fan."

Hearing the shout, Grandpa Fan stopped lecturing, turned to look at the guard, and said, "Why are you calling me instead of keeping a watch on your own?"

The guard glanced at Chen Fan and stammered twice, "That's Chen Fan."

Grandpa Fan craned his neck, "What happened to Chen Fan? Chen Fan just..."

The sound suddenly stopped, and Grandpa Fan turned to look at Chen Fan, asking in a low voice, "You're Chen Fan?"

Chen Fan smiled. "Ah, it's me."

He handed over his work ID, saying, "Please check it."

Grandpa Fan took the work permit and looked at it. "Chen Fan, Vice Chairman of the Jiangnan Provincial Branch of the Writers Association?"

Looking at that face again... I felt a little embarrassed.

But the old man was a man of the world; he immediately returned the documents and said with a smile, "Writer Chen is indeed a handsome man. Um, who did you say you were looking for?"

Chen Fan's smile remained unchanged. "Foreign trade major, Huang Ying."

"Oh, right, a nightingale. No problem, I'll sing one for you right away."

Grandpa Fan immediately picked up the phone and dialed. The call connected shortly after. "Have Huang Ying from your department come out. Someone from her hometown is here. Yes, it's her teacher..."

Chen Fan quickly made a shushing gesture. It didn't matter if he told the security guard about his identity, but if the teachers at the school found out, who knew what would happen?

Anyway, Jiang Tiantian and Jiang Lili have mentioned it to him many times; both schools want to invite him to give lectures. It's not that I'm shameless, that's just how things are. To avoid trouble, it's best not to reveal my identity.

When Grandpa Fan saw his actions, he blinked and instantly understood what he meant. He continued, "What teacher? No, you misheard. He's a fellow villager, just a young man. Hurry up, why waste so much breath?"

After saying that, he hung up the phone, then invited Chen Fan in and started chatting with him, saying, "Your novel 'Shanghai Spy Shadow' is well-written; underground work is just that dangerous."

However, the battlefield is a place where life is extremely difficult. No one knows which direction the bullets will come from or when a shell will land on their head.

"When are you going to write a book about war? We can't fight wars now, so even just imagining it would be good."

He then told Chen Fan several stories about how he fought the Japanese invaders back then.

Unfortunately, the old man didn't know how to use comprehension; he finished explaining the entire battle in just a few words.

By the time Huang Ying came running over, swinging her arms, they had already reached the third story.

Huang Ying was in class when a teacher called her out, saying that a young man from her hometown was looking for her, and she immediately guessed that it was Chen Fan.

I ran over and saw that it was true.

She excitedly leaned against the doorframe, her eyes filled with surprise. Without even catching her breath, she greeted everyone with a smile, "Teacher, you're here!"

Chen Fan waved with a smile, then smiled at Grandpa Fan and said, "You have a lot of stories here. I'll come back to ask you for advice later and see if I can write a book of battle stories."

He wasn't just being polite; he genuinely wanted to come here to gather material.

Hmm, I can ask my three masters later; they must have plenty of good stories to tell.

And then there's Grandpa Xiang and his group; wherever there's a gatekeeper, there's a resource library—plenty of them, you can find them anywhere.

When Grandpa Fan heard that he had actually agreed to write it, he couldn't stop smiling. "Sure, you can come anytime you want. I work here and my dormitory is here too."

Chen Fan smiled and said, "Then leave me your phone number. I'll call you in advance if I'm coming over."

Without saying a word, Grandpa Fan took out a pen and paper, wrote down the number, tore it off, and handed it to him.

Chen Fan glanced at the number, memorized it, folded it up, put it in his pocket, and then pointed at Huang Ying. "I'm taking her out for a bit. We'll have lunch with some kids from the village who are studying at university in Beijing, and then I'll bring her back. Could you please ask for leave for me?"

Grandpa Fan patted his chest and assured him, "Leave this little thing to me, I guarantee I'll handle it perfectly."

Chen Fan thanked her, left the pack of cigarettes, waved to Huang Ying, and left with her.

……

Take Huang Ying with you, and then have her go find someone. The rest will be much easier.

After transferring from Tsinghua University to Peking University, he picked up all seven female students studying in Beijing, then took them all to Quanjude (a famous Peking duck restaurant) and treated them to a Peking duck feast.

During the meal, I asked them about their studies and life at school. They said that they usually focused on their studies and followed the crowd in activities without standing out. I nodded in satisfaction.

After the meal, as usual, everyone was given some tickets and coupons, and a few more instructions were given before they were returned to their respective places so as not to delay afternoon classes.

He only needs to provide some ration coupons; no money is required. Not to mention that, given the current situation in Lujiawan, their families can expect to receive several thousand yuan in dividends at the end of the year. As for themselves, the brigade headquarters provides living allowances to all students who are admitted to university, 300 yuan per semester, plus the school's student stipend, which amounts to more than 70 yuan per month. They are definitely in the "high-income bracket," so he doesn't need to worry about them at all.

This is the benefit of collective prosperity; every household can afford it. Otherwise, even if you get into university, countless problems await you, and who knows when you'll finally overcome them.

Now all they need to do is study hard and improve themselves, and everything will fall into place in the future.

……

After sending the person back, Chen Fan drove to the China Revolutionary Museum.

This museum will become the future national museum.

The earliest origin can be traced back to the "National History Museum" which was prepared in 1912. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was renamed "BJ History Museum". In 1950, the Central Revolutionary Museum was established. After several changes, in September 1969, the two museums were merged to form the current "Museum of the Chinese Revolution".

As a comprehensive museum, its collections range from ancient stone tools from the Paleolithic era to vessels and writing from the Neolithic era, from bronzes from the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties to various precious antiques from the Ming and Qing dynasties, and even important items related to various historical events in modern times, fully demonstrating the long history and continuous inheritance of Chinese civilization.

Chen Fan wants to learn about antiques and their historical significance, so this is a place he absolutely cannot miss.

There is another advantage, or rather, benefit of coming here.

Well, a few years ago, the Writers' Association stopped operating, and many veteran writers and literary masters had nowhere to go, so they were taken care of and arranged to work here.

Even now that the Writers' Association has resumed operations, many people still haven't been assigned jobs, and some are even working at the museum until retirement. So when Chen Fan showed his work ID and met with the person in charge, it felt like coming home.

Or rather, it's even more comfortable than going home!
For example, he could take the copied oracle bone script and bronze inscriptions to a research lab and ask an old gentleman about the meaning of these characters.

Or they could pester the curator to take them deep into the tightly closed warehouse to study the treasures that have never seen the light of day.

The Simuwu Ding, the Four-Sided Sheep Zun, the Li Bronze Gui, and other artifacts found in textbooks were all displayed before his eyes.

Furthermore, there are the Ming Dynasty's Nine Dragons and Nine Phoenixes Crown, the Yangshao Culture's Pottery Eagle Tripod and Human-Face Fish Pattern Pottery Basin, the Hongshan Jade Dragon, the Han Dynasty's Drumming and Storytelling Figurine, the Shang and Zhou Dynasty's Guo Ji Zi White Bronze Plate, the Northern Qi Dynasty's Celadon Lotus Vase, and more...

And they are all genuine, made of real gold, and absolutely no fakes!
The masters who were originally holed up in the museum doing research initially only wanted to help and take care of this first new national member of the Writers Association in more than a decade. As long as it did not violate principles, they were almost always willing to help.

After exchanging ideas, it became clear that Chen Fan's expertise in appraising antiques was truly exceptional.

Not only are they intimately familiar with representative national treasures from various periods, but they also know the production processes and the stories behind them like the back of their hand.

This can even extend to the social culture, historical background, political economy, and so on.

Whether in terms of historical knowledge or understanding of cultural relics and treasures, they are fully on par with them.

In some aspects, it can be said to be even more ingenious and superior.

Unfortunately, Chen Fan only stayed at the museum for two and a half days, went through the representative collections, and consulted with several masters before deciding not to come back.

……

December 16th arrived in the blink of an eye.

Chen Fan didn't go out today. He stayed at home in front of the TV, rocking back and forth in a rocking chair, holding two golden monkeys in his arms.

Thank goodness, the three old men probably got tired of playing with the monkey and had Liu Juan bring the two little guys back, so the little monkey returned to its owner's embrace.

Having only been favored for two days, Little Black had to take a backseat, lying on the rocking chair, listening intently to the TV.

At 10 a.m., the news suddenly started playing on the television.

The announcement was broadcast simultaneously on television and radio, and the world was astonished.

Liu Juan and Ma Lan, who were busy in the kitchen, heard the noise and rushed out, staring at the TV with disbelief in their eyes.

Chen Fan petted the two monkeys and turned to look at them.

After a while, once the announcement was over, he said softly, "Go cook. After we eat, I'm going to Rongbaozhai. You can take some things back with you while you're at it."

The two of them turned to look at him at the same time, and were stunned for several seconds before they came to their senses.

But he still seemed a bit distracted.

Seeing their expressions, Chen Fan sighed softly and then said, "Never mind, you guys pack your things. We're not cooking today, let's go eat hot pot."

Several seconds later, Liu Juan suddenly realized what was happening and pointed to the kitchen, saying, "It's almost ready."

Chen Fan patted the two monkeys' bottoms, and the little monkeys immediately climbed up his clothes onto his shoulders, one on each side.

He stood up, holding onto the armrest of the chair, and chuckled softly, "Then let's tidy things up, put them in the basket, and take them home."

After saying that, he put his hands behind his back and walked out, saying, "Hurry up, I'll wait for you in the car."

As Chen Fan walked out the door, Liu Juan and Ma Lan exchanged a glance, both able to see the bewilderment in each other's eyes.

After all that talk about liberating America, they've finally established diplomatic relations?

After packing their things in a daze, the two of them carried their shopping baskets out the door. Chen Fan had already parked the car at the gate, so they got in and closed the door.

He drove the car out of the yard, got out and locked the gate, got back into the car, and slowly drove towards the nearest Donglaishun.

Once they reached the main road, Chen Fan said softly, "I remember, Liu Juan, your father had a limp, and Ma Lan's father had a missing hand, right?"

The two of them snapped out of their daze and nodded in unison.

After a two-second pause, Liu Juan sighed, “They were all wounded on the northern battlefield. My dad said that he only had a limp, but 20 people lost their lives, and many more were left with lifelong disabilities. He felt that he was much luckier than them, so he gave up a better job to give to those who needed it more.”

After she finished speaking, Ma Lan said quietly, "My dad is too."

Chen Fan glanced at them in the rearview mirror. "Feeling uncomfortable?"

The two pursed their lips and nodded.

Chen Fan said seriously, "It's normal to feel uncomfortable. We used to fight to the death, but now we've made up and even become friends. If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't feel comfortable either, let alone you who have experienced such pain firsthand."

He exhaled a long breath, turned his head to look at the street scene outside the window, and said, "Look outside."

The two were stunned for a moment, not understanding what he meant, but they didn't ask any further questions and both looked out the window.

After a while, Chen Fan continued, "The peace and prosperity outside the window were bought with the lives of your fathers' generation. Without that war, we wouldn't be able to stand tall in the world. After winning that war, both the Soviet Union and the United States had to take us seriously. So, that war was a war of national founding, and it was definitely not meaningless."

He looked up at the two women and, seeing that they were listening attentively, continued, "But if the country wants to develop and the people want to eat meat, we can't just cling to dogma. Old Su used to be the big brother, but now he's having conflicts with us too. We should criticize Soviet revisionism even more harshly than we criticized America back then."

Both the US and the Soviet Union are among the most developed countries in the world; we cannot allow them to be adversaries.

Mr. Li is right. We should make as many friends as possible and as few enemies as possible. If we can turn enemies into friends, it will be beneficial to us.

Now that America is willing to befriend us, even if it's just for America's money and their advanced technology, we should seize this opportunity—an opportunity to integrate into the world and improve ourselves.

"Once we've learned their technology and even surpassed it, and our country is prosperous and our people are wealthy, then we can think about how to get revenge."

Liu Juan and Ma Lan listened silently to Chen Fan's words. Although they were still a little gloomy, they felt much better than before.

Liu Juan slowly exhaled a long breath, looked at Chen Fan and smiled, "I understand, thank you, Brother Chen."

Ma Lan nodded repeatedly, "Me too."

Chen Fan chuckled, glanced at the two people in the rearview mirror, and said, "Let's look at it from a different angle. Think about it, now that the leaders are going to cooperate with Meidi, doesn't that mean we should shift our focus to development from now on?"
If that's the case, will there come a day in the future when ordinary people's lives will be ten or a hundred times better, with three meals a day and meat at every meal?

Even ordinary families can live in big houses. Take your family for example. Your parents live in one house, and each of you siblings has your own little family. You're living a prosperous life, and you don't even like eating meat anymore. You weigh yourself every day, afraid of becoming obese..."

Listening to Chen Fan's description, the last bit of gloom in their hearts dissipated.

Liu Juan chuckled and said, "Brother Chen, you're such a good storyteller. Who doesn't love eating meat? And you're worried about gaining weight? You make it sound so real."

Ma Lan grinned foolishly, "If I could eat meat every day, I'd be so happy I wouldn't have to worry about gaining weight."

Chen Fan slammed on the gas pedal and laughed, "Alright, I'll take you guys out for some meat right now. Eat your fill, you're not allowed to leave until you're stuffed."

The car sped past on the road, leaving behind only a string of giggles and laughter.

……

They ate until they were stuffed at noon. There was no way around it; Chen Fan had ordered too much meat, and it was difficult to pack the hot pot lamb to take away, otherwise it wouldn't taste as good as when it was freshly eaten.

In order not to waste food, Liu Juan and Ma Lan could only eat and drink to their hearts' content, to the point that they couldn't move once they got in the car and were only taken to their doorstep before getting out of the car with flushed faces.

Chen Fan declined the invitation to visit, citing other matters, and instead took the two little monkeys and Xiao Hei to his master's house.

Unlike the two young girls, the three masters were quite open-minded and didn't care at all about making friends with Mei Di.

That's not quite right either. Master Zhang still complained a bit. They fought to the death on the battlefield back then, but now they've made friends. He muttered to himself, wondering if they'd fight to the death again in a few years.

Yes, just like the Soviet Union.

But he probably couldn't see it himself by then, right?
Seeing that his three masters were in stable condition, Chen Fan didn't bother to comfort them. He left the little monkey behind and prepared to leave.

Lin Yuanxiang quickly called out from behind, "Where are you going?"

When Chen Fan stopped, he caught up and asked in a low voice, "Is this why your uncle came to the capital? Are you going to find him now?"

Chen Fan crossed his arms and said softly, "I don't know if he came for this, but Second Master, this doesn't seem to have anything to do with you, does it?"

Lin Yuanxiang clicked his tongue. "Is it wrong to just be curious?"

Chen Fan's lips twitched slightly. "Alright, he's planning to do business in China, and he's here to test the waters."

Lin Yuanxiang frowned slightly. "Doing business? It seems things are really about to change."

Then he waved his hand and said, "Never mind, this really has nothing to do with me. You go ahead and do your thing."

Just as Chen Fan was about to leave, he thought for a moment, then turned back and whispered, "Second Master, to say it's completely unrelated isn't quite right. If foreign businesses are allowed to enter, then when they open companies, they'll need to hire people, right...?"

Lin Yuanxiang's eyes lit up when he saw the look in his eyes. "Is there a reason for this?"

Chen Fan coughed twice. "Think about it. First of all, these college and university graduates are definitely not people they can invite. Secondly, workers and cadres from legitimate organizations wouldn't get involved with them either."

They can't possibly employ all Americans, not to mention how much more money that would cost, and we certainly wouldn't agree to that.

So, you see, this opportunity has arrived. And what about people like Liu Juan and Ma Lan?

Lin Yuanxiang suddenly realized, nodded deeply, and then, ignoring him, turned and rushed into the house. "Old Li, Old Zhang, I need to tell you something..."

Chen Fan chuckled, then turned and left the courtyard, closing the gate behind him.

(End of this chapter)