Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 71 It’s time to work
With Zhang Wenliang acting as such a diligent advocate, and Chen Fan also urgently needing to resolve his household registration issue, they naturally hit it off immediately.

However, Chen Fan still had some doubts. "Shouldn't we explain this to Captain Yang?"

Captain Yang couldn't possibly object to the plan proposed by the brigade headquarters.

But just because others don't object doesn't mean we can ignore them.

While working odd jobs at school, Chen Fan learned a valuable lesson: local officials are more important than distant ones. Building a good relationship with the person in charge of the place where you work is more important than currying favor with the big boss.

Hearing Chen Fan say this, Zhang Wenliang nodded secretly and said with a smile, "Of course, that's how it should be, and they need to cooperate. But don't worry, there definitely won't be any problems. I'll just go and give Captain Yang a heads-up later."

Chen Fan laughed and said, "Well then, I have some good food here, but no good wine. I'll go and invite Captain Yang, Accountant Liu, and Warehouse Keeper Huang over now. First, to explain the situation; second, it's not fun drinking with just the two of us, it'll be more lively with more people; and third, well..."

He rubbed his hands together and chuckled, "I'll borrow some wine from Captain Yang while I'm at it."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Wenliang burst into laughter and pointed at him, saying, "I've attended so many banquets over the years, and I've seen people borrow wine to host banquets before, but I've never heard of anyone as direct as you saying you're borrowing. You're the first one."

Chen Fan didn't feel embarrassed at all, and grinned, "It's just that since you're not an outsider, Brother Sanhu, we don't need to be so formal."

Then, pointing to the hanging cured meat, he said, "Besides, with so much stuff here, it's impossible for us not to pay it back."

Zhang Wenliang laughed and nodded, "Alright, I'll do as you say, whatever you arrange."

Chen Fan stood up and said, "Then please sit for a while, I'll be right back."

Only after Zhang Wenliang waved did he leave the room.

I quickly went to Captain Yang's house, but he wasn't there. I asked Yang Ju and found out that Captain Yang had gone to work on planting utility poles.

Seeing that Chen Fan seemed to have something to do, Aunt Yang asked him what he was there for. When she learned that he was accompanying Zhang, the militia company commander who had come from the brigade headquarters, she quickly asked Yang Ju to go and call for him.

Chen Fan rubbed his hands together, then awkwardly offered to borrow a drink.

He wouldn't be embarrassed to ask Captain Yang, but he felt a little awkward in front of Aunt Yang.

However, Aunt Yang was a straightforward person. Without saying a word, she immediately asked her second daughter, Yang Mei, to carry a 5-jin jar of wine over. Knowing that there were no wine bowls at the educated youth settlement, she also asked her third daughter, Yang Lan, to take the wine jar and bowl and go over with them.

Chen Fan thanked them and then went to invite Accountant Liu and Warehouse Keeper Huang.

As Ke Ren was walking down the street, a middle-aged woman suddenly called out to him, "Master Chen, Master Chen."

Chen Fan turned to look at her, then glanced around. Seeing no one else, he smiled and went to greet her, "You were looking for me?"

The man walked over and said with a smile, "Here's the thing, I'm laying the foundation for a new house tomorrow, and I'd like to ask you to come and help out. The main thing is to help cook a meal, just turtle. Liu Jujiang can cook the other dishes. He said your turtle is the best. I just don't know if you have time?"

Building a new house?
Chen Fan suddenly remembered that he had heard several times in the past two days that Huang Laosi's house in the village had become a dangerous building and that he planned to rebuild a new house in the next few days. So, the person in front of him must be Huang Laosi's family member.
Looking at the house she just ran out of, although it's a bit old, it still looks pretty good, doesn't it?
But that's not the point.

In the morning, Chen Fan was joking with Jiang Lili, saying that if he didn't have any land to farm, he could team up with Liu Jujiang to become a craftsman. So, here comes the work?
His mind raced. He figured that the post office would come tomorrow to install the loudspeakers, and he would only start work after all the loudspeakers in the brigade were installed, so it shouldn't cause any problems. Besides, the announcer's job was from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., or 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the summer, which wouldn't interfere with doing other things at all.

His thoughts raced, and in less than a second, as soon as the person finished speaking, Chen Fan smiled and nodded, saying, "Sure, no problem. What time tomorrow?"

The man was overjoyed and quickly said, "Liu Jujiang will be here at 9 o'clock. You don't need to do any of the preparation work, such as washing vegetables. We will take care of everything ourselves. You can start cooking as soon as you arrive."

Chen Fan nodded and smiled, "Okay, I'll go there first thing tomorrow morning."

He doesn't even have an alarm clock and doesn't know the time, so he can only get here as soon as possible.

Once the matter was settled, the man left in high spirits.

Chen Fan shook his head, couldn't help but chuckle twice, then shook his head and continued walking forward.

A short while later, we arrived at Accountant Liu's house. Upon asking, we learned that he had also gone to work and was also acting as a scorekeeper, recording work points on-site.

In the end, they only found Huang, the custodian, who was guarding the field in front of the livestock shed in the village. There were still a dozen or so scattered utility poles there, and it looked like they could all be planted today.

Upon hearing Chen Fan's purpose, the custodian Huang hesitated for two seconds before asking someone to call his elderly father over to watch over the telephone poles and keep accounts. He then followed Chen Fan toward the educated youth settlement.

At this moment, Chen Fan took the opportunity to ask, "Guardian Huang, there was someone earlier who said they were going to lay the foundation for a house tomorrow and asked me to come over and cook turtle. Was he from Uncle Huang's family?"

The custodian, Huang, glanced at him, nodded, and smiled, "Yes, it's from the fourth brother's room."

He then pointed to a cleared area to the left and said, "Look, they demolished the old house more than ten days ago and are just waiting for the bricklayer to come. The date is set for tomorrow. If you have time, come and help out. He won't treat you badly."

Chen Fan looked in the direction he was pointing and saw that there was indeed a flat area there. He had been wondering why there was a rice paddy here, and thought it was for the village's public use. He didn't expect it to be a demolished house.

So this village doesn't have 46 households, but 47?
As his thoughts raced, he shook his head and laughed, "That's not what I meant, and I already agreed."

He paused for a moment, then asked in a low voice, "Are there any special customs or traditions associated with building this house? I mean, should I bring something with me when I go over tomorrow?"

Huang, the custodian, smiled and nodded. "When building a house in the village, the first day is for laying the foundation, the second day is for laying bricks and beams, and the third day is for laying tiles and finishing the house. After that, it's all just small things like painting and smearing. Then you have to burn firewood inside the house to dry out the moisture."

Besides treating the construction team to good food and drink, people usually have a feast when the roof beam is raised, and the guests will give a small gift of 1 or 2 cents as a token of goodwill.

I know you don't have any money, but you have some extra stuff in your room, so bringing over a pair of straw sandals is just a token of my appreciation. Everyone knows your situation, so no one will criticize you."

Chen Fan smiled and nodded. "I understand."

Then, out of curiosity, he asked, "The bricks haven't even been delivered yet. Is it possible to lay the foundation by tomorrow?"

The warehouse keeper, Huang, laughed and pointed to the slope next to the open space, saying, "The bricks are all drying over there. They've been drying for many days. Do you think we're going to build brick houses? We can't afford that!"

(End of this chapter)