Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 85 Going to Work (Available for purchase tomorrow at noon, please subscribe!)
Just as Chen Fan was thinking about whether to have Jiang Lili wake him up tomorrow morning, Captain Yang whispered again, "Your household registration book has arrived. Come with me to get it later."

Chen Fan's eyes lit up, and he nodded repeatedly, "Okay, thank you, Captain."

He then picked up his small wine cup and said, "I'd like to offer you a toast."

Captain Yang, holding the large wine bowl, laughed heartily, "I don't even dare to clink glasses with you, for fear of knocking over your little wine cup."

Chen Fan then brought his wine glass closer and said with a smile, "Then I'll clink glasses with you."

He then touched the bottom of the bowl with the glass and took a sip.

This meal took an unusually long time.

Men tend to talk more after drinking, especially since Captain Yang just dropped two big announcements. Whether it was the announcement of the loudspeaker broadcast or the plan to breach the dike and dredge the ditch, these became the focus of everyone's conversation.

Even the construction workers, since the houses were basically finished, no longer rushed to get back to work, so they just sat on their benches, chatting and joking with the villagers.

Some were discussing what the loudspeaker would broadcast, while others were discussing how many work points they could earn from the dike-breaking and ditch-dredging. The noise continued until 2 p.m.

Chen Fan didn't drink that much alcohol and remained mostly silent, only responding when someone spoke to him. Otherwise, he listened attentively, trying to absorb information.

However, some key information was missing, so he could only understand about 70-80% of it.

During this time, he noticed that Jiang Lili had already finished eating and was sitting under the eaves holding a teacup, lost in thought. He took the opportunity of pouring tea to go over and tell her to go back first.

He stayed with Captain Yang and the others until the event ended, as he still needed to retrieve his household registration book.

Only after the banquet ended did Chen Fan follow Captain Yang back.

When they arrived at his home, Captain Yang went into the room on the left and took out a thick notebook from a drawer. "This is our team's collective household account book."

He then flipped directly to the middle of the notebook, turned back two pages, pointed to the table on it, and said, "I wrote a separate page for you. You are now the head of the household, but for the time being, you will share a house with the educated youth settlement."

Chen Fan glanced at it and saw that it contained basic personal information such as name, alias, gender, date of birth, place of birth, ancestral home, ethnicity, family background, marital status, education level, occupation, etc.

Except for a few columns at the beginning that were registered, almost all the rest were empty.

After reading it, Chen Fan asked curiously, "Are all the people from the educated youth settlements registered here too?"

Upon hearing his words, Captain Yang flipped to the very back and said, “Those educated youth are also registered here, but their household registration is handled by the educated youth office. This place only registers basic information and grain rations. After all, people come and go frequently, and it’s not feasible not to register them, so we put them separately at the very back.”

He pointed to the list above and said, “Look, more than two hundred educated youths have come here. At most, there were more than 20 people at the same time. The four rooms were not enough to accommodate them all. The beds had to be placed side by side, with five or six people sleeping side by side. Now there are only 6 people left in the educated youth station. After the New Year, it is hard to say how many will be left.”

Chen Fan's gaze swept across the list, and among the lines of names that were underlined, he spotted Jiang Lili's name.

Many people behind her had already left, but she was still at the front of the line, and it was not easy to notice her if you were not paying attention.

Chen Fan glanced at it, then his gaze immediately stopped.

Her birthday is the 17th of the 12th lunar month? That's exactly the same day she came here three years ago?
Just as Chen Fan was in a daze, Captain Yang snapped the household registration book shut and then took out a thin little household registration book and handed it to him, saying, "This is yours."

Chen Fan happily took it and examined it carefully. It was a notebook of moderate size, with a cover and back cover made of kraft paper. Inside the pages was a personal information registration form, on which his information was written, along with the official seal of the Public Security Bureau.

Captain Yang looked at him and smiled, "From now on, you're part of the collective. When you speak and act, you need to consider the collective honor more and not be impulsive, understand?"

Chen Fan nodded vigorously and said with a serious expression, "Understood."

Captain Yang chuckled and waved his hand. "Alright, go back now."

Chen Fan happily returned to the educated youth settlement with his household registration booklet in hand.

Jiang Lili was busy in the yard when she saw him return. She smiled at first, then her eyes lit up when she saw what he was holding. "Oh, your household registration is done?"

Chen Fan grinned and said, "Yeah, that's right."

Then he clapped his hands and said, "Let's make something delicious tonight to celebrate."

Hearing this, Jiang Lili couldn't stop smiling.

These past few days we've been saying we should be frugal, but we've been eating meat every day. If this were a celebration, what would it be like?
Chen Fan first went back to his room and put the household registration book in the cabinet. Then he took off his cotton-padded coat, put on the cotton vest that Jiang Lili had just made for him, and put on an overcoat. He then went next door to pick up a bucket and came out. "I'm going to look in the ditch to see if I can catch some loaches and eels."

The landlord's family didn't have any surplus grain. They only had so much meat, and they had to set aside most of it to sell at the purchasing station for money. So now he has learned to be frugal and try to use free ingredients to cook.

For example, these past two days I've only eaten fish caught from the river. Apart from using a little oil when frying the fish, I haven't touched anything else.

Hearing Chen Fan's words and watching him walk out, Jiang Lili suddenly remembered something and quickly said, "If you want to catch loaches and eels, go to the rice paddies and find their burrows. Don't go to the ditches. There might be schistosomiasis in the ditches, and you don't have long boots. Going into the ditches would be dangerous."

Chen Fan looked up in surprise, "Huh?"

Jiang Lili's expression was very serious. "Especially in ditches with a large number of snails, there are often schistosomiasis parasites. If you walk barefoot in the water, the parasites can enter the human body through the skin. If you are accidentally splashed into your mouth by sewage, the possibility of infection is even higher, so you must be careful."

Chen Fan then remembered what Captain Yang had said earlier and asked, "So the dredging and renovation of the ditch is for the prevention and treatment of schistosomiasis?"

Jiang Lili nodded. "Dredging is simply digging out a layer of silt from the ditch and spreading it on the adjacent field. Once the silt dries up, the schistosomiasis will die. Renovation is more direct; it involves digging a new ditch next to the original one and filling it with the excavated soil. This can kill a large number of schistosomiasis."

Seeing Chen Fan's blank expression, she thought he didn't believe her, so she quickly put down her tools, walked over, and said seriously,
"Don't underestimate the dangers of schistosomiasis. It's written in the schistosomiasis prevention manual. Before liberation, there was a large village in Jiangxi with over a thousand people. It was a thriving village, but because the entire village was infected with schistosomiasis, not a single one survived. The dangers of schistosomiasis are very serious and must be taken seriously."

Upon hearing this, Chen Fan shuddered and quickly turned back, saying, "I'd better go fishing."

……

The next day, just as dawn was breaking, Jiang Lili knocked on the door. "Chen Fan, get up, Chen Fan?"

Chen Fan opened his eyes, glanced at the faint light coming through the crack in the door, and called out with his eyes still closed, "Coming."

He then yawned and quickly got up and dressed.

When he came out, Jiang Lili was already busy in the kitchen.

After he washed his face and brushed his teeth, Jiang Lili brought over a bowl of boiled rice. "Eat something first to fill your stomach, there won't be anything to eat over there later."

People here generally don't eat breakfast unless they're doing heavy work, but when they need to go to work, they'll cook some porridge for breakfast in the morning.

It's basically just cooking leftover rice from the previous day with some water, similar to porridge, but with a firmer texture. It's also easy to make; you can eat it as soon as the water boils.

Chen Fan didn't stand on ceremony. He picked up the bowl, ate the food quickly, wiped his mouth, and said with a smile, "I'm leaving now."

Jiang Lili raised her right fist and shouted, "Go for it!"

Chen Fan laughed and walked out of the courtyard to begin his first day of work.

(End of this chapter)