Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 80 Inconvenient

After hearing their explanation, Chen Fan nodded in understanding.

It looks complicated, but it's actually very simple. You don't even have to lift a finger; the team can handle everything. It's much more convenient than running around like this in later generations.

Chen Fan suddenly remembered something else. Didn't Zhang Wenliang say yesterday that he still had a 3-month "probationary period"? Why is he going to get the certificate so soon?

He glanced at Captain Yang, thinking to himself, "Anyway, it'll be good for me to do it in advance, so I won't ask."

After leaving Captain Yang's house, Chen Fan returned to the educated youth settlement.

As soon as I entered, I saw Jiang Lili had moved a large table outside, with some scraps of cloth and cotton piled on it. She was cutting the cloth with a large pair of scissors.

Hearing the noise, Jiang Lili looked up and saw it was him, so she smiled and said, "You're back."

Chen Fan walked over and asked, "Hmm, have you eaten yet?"

Jiang Lili smiled and said, "I ate it."

Chen Fan looked at her. "Have you finished eating all the food?"

Jiang Lili smiled and said, "I'm done eating."

"Oh, all right."

Chen Fan put the bag he was carrying on the table, his eyes fixed on the fabric in her hands. "Are you making clothes?"

Jiang Lili lowered her head and smiled, "Didn't the warehouse keeper Huang ask me to make you a cotton vest the day before yesterday? This is it."

Chen Fan's eyes lit up immediately. "Oh, it's for me?"

He immediately started circling the table, saying, "This piece of cloth seems a little different from the cloth the team gave us?"

Jiang Lili said, “Making a cotton vest doesn’t require much fabric. I used the cloth from when I wrapped my military overcoat, and the size was based on the size of your thermal underwear.”

The gift Captain Xiao gave him was wrapped in a square piece of cotton cloth, about a meter in size. Unexpectedly, Jiang Lili used it to make a vest for him, which turned out to be perfect.

Chen Fan watched for a while, then suddenly ran into the house, brought out a chair, and sat down to examine it closely.

Jiang Lili looked at him and suddenly burst out laughing, "What's so interesting about this? You're not a tailor."

Chen Fan said seriously, "Who said that? Maybe if I learn from others today, I can make my own clothes tomorrow."

Jiang Lili smiled and said while cutting the fabric, "Making clothes is a woman's job. Why are you learning this? Yesterday I heard from Company Commander Zhang and the others that you're going to be a broadcaster at the brigade headquarters and you can even repair broadcasting equipment. That's a real skill."

Chen Fan waved his hand, "Skill is only about whether you know how to do it, not about how big or small. Besides, many of the top tailors who used to run tailor shops were men. How can you say that making clothes is a woman's job?"

Jiang Lili smiled and didn't say anything more, continuing to carefully cut the clothes.

Chen Fan looked at it for a while, and his gaze suddenly fell on the bag. Right, he still didn't know what Huang Laosi had given him.

He opened the bag, and inside were ten eggs, with a checkered cotton cloth underneath them.

Chen Fan took everything out and placed it on the table, his brows furrowing slightly. "Isn't this too much for just one meal?"

Jiang Lili asked about the situation and then looked at the things on the table. "These eggs are not big, only 3 cents each, 10 eggs are 30 cents. The floral cloth from the supply and marketing cooperative is 45 cents a foot, the plain floral cloth is only 20 cents, this kind of checkered cloth is about 18 cents, and the solid color is even cheaper. This piece of cloth should be 5 feet long, which is 90 cents. The total is 1.2 yuan. You made two big pots of dishes, so these things are not heavy, but they are not a small amount either."

Then he looked at the cloth bag again. "This bag should also have used half a foot of cloth. A new one would be worth 10 cents, but it's an old one. It would only be worth 2 cents if sold to the recycling station."

After listening to her calculate the accounts, Chen Fan clicked his tongue and couldn't help but chuckle.

I was worried that Huang Laosi had given too much, but it seems I was overthinking it.

Then, some people became curious, "Why is there such a big price difference between floral print fabric and homespun fabric?"

Jiang Lili smiled and said softly, "Printed fabric isn't even that expensive. It's Dacron fabric that's really expensive. A foot of it costs 1.41 yuan, and it's not easy to buy."

Chen Fan's lips twitched slightly. Synthetic fiber cloth was so much more expensive than pure cotton cloth; truly a characteristic of the times. Decades later, everything would be reversed: home-spun cloth would be the most expensive, followed by cotton, and synthetic fiber cloth would be the cheapest—a testament to industrial development.

He looked at the things and said, "It's a pity there are no hens here. Otherwise, we could hatch all the eggs and raise chickens next year."

Jiang Lili smiled and said, "The commune's supply and marketing cooperative sells chicks. They buy them for 5 cents each at the purchasing station and sell them for 6 cents."

She paused for a moment, then suddenly looked at the doorway and said in a low voice, "Every now and then, people from the team will come by selling chicks in baskets. They sell them for 6 cents, or for free. You can put it on credit first, and then use the grain to pay for it when the grain is distributed. Each chick is worth half a pound of rice."

The current price of rice outside is 14 cents per pound, plus the cost of grain coupons. Half a pound of rice costs significantly more than 6 cents. However, this is a loan, so interest will definitely be charged.

Chen Fan's eyes widened. "This is allowed? Is nobody going to do anything about it?"

Jiang Lili gently shook her head. "When the higher-ups were demanding, the inspection teams would go to the countryside every day, and then they wouldn't come. Once the heat died down, the market inspection teams basically stopped coming to the countryside. They would just stay within the commune or visit a few villages around the commune, but they wouldn't go to any more distant ones."

"If they don't come, and everyone around here is from the same village, they're just trying to earn a living, nobody cares."

Chen Fan blinked. It seemed that private economic activities had never stopped.

However, these things are not relevant to me for the time being, and the chick seller won't be coming over now.

He looked at the egg, blinked, and then suddenly let out a long sigh.

Jiang Lili looked at him, "What's wrong?"

Chen Fan: "I was planning to save some money tonight, but it looks like that's going to be a waste again."

Jiang Lili's eyes flickered, her gaze landing on the eggs. "You wouldn't be thinking of...?"

Chen Fan picked up the eggs and headed to the kitchen. "We're having eggs tonight."

Jiang Lili was both amused and exasperated. What rural person could eat so well every day like him?

Before he came, I ate nothing but pickled vegetables for three years, and for the past year or so, I've only eaten pickled vegetables. How many good things has he eaten in the few days he's been here?!
However, she didn't say much. Firstly, it was her personality, and she couldn't offer any words of advice. Secondly, Chen Fan earned all of this through his own abilities, and most of the time he ate out. This showed his great ability; even Captain Yang and the brigade headquarters praised him. What was there to criticize?
Chen Fan put the eggs down and then picked up the piece of cotton cloth to look at it.

Just as Jiang Lili estimated, the cloth was three feet long and about half a meter wide. What could this little bit of cloth be used for?

Chen Fan thought for a moment, then looked at Jiang Lili, "How much fabric do you need to make a set of thermal underwear?"

Jiang Lili said without hesitation, "Usually it takes two meters of cloth, but since you're tall, it will take at least two and a half meters."

She paused for a moment, then looked at the piece of cloth again. "You want to use this to make thermal underwear?"

Chen Fan nodded. "Unfortunately, it's not enough."

If we cook another meal on the day the roof beam is raised, we should get another piece of cloth. That should be enough, right?
Jiang Lili glanced at him and whispered, "This is homespun cloth, less than half the width of industrial cloth. Industrial cloth is 1.2 to 1.5 meters wide, but this is only 48 centimeters."

No wonder the price is so much lower than that of industrial fabrics!
Chen Fan muttered to himself, then did the math, "That means at least 6 meters of homespun cloth?"

Jiang Lili nodded. "Pretty much."

Chen Fan thought for a moment, "Never mind, I'll do something else first."

Then he smiled at her and said, "Can you teach me sewing?"

Jiang Lili smiled and said, "What clothes do you want? I can make them for you."

Chen Fan shook his head seriously, "It's inconvenient, I'll do it myself."

Jiang Lili was a little confused. What was inconvenient about it? It's just...

She suddenly thought of something, and her face turned bright red, all the way to her ears. She lowered her head and murmured, "Oh."

(End of this chapter)