Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 90 Signal
Chen Fan, who was already somewhat unfamiliar with going to the market, was even more clueless after hearing this.

What do you mean?
Fortunately, without him having to ask, Captain Zhang began to ramble on.

"Here, going to the market has been a tradition since ancient times. It's usually held on the first and fifteenth of each month, two days a month. But in the eleventh and twelfth lunar months, considering that every household needs to prepare for the New Year, the market is held on the fifth, fifteenth, and twenty-fifth of each month, three days a month, so that we can buy and sell more things."

Small markets were held on the first, fifth, and twenty-fifth of the lunar month, rotating among the surrounding villages to save people from having to travel far. The fifteenth was a large market, with even more people and goods, and it was located near the commune so that villagers from the surrounding area could participate.

Even after the implementation of joint public-private ownership and unified purchase and sales, requiring coupons to buy things, the authorities never blocked rural markets. As long as it was something produced by the rural households, including tables, chairs, and homespun cloth, nothing needed coupons; you could buy it with money.

Industrial products are not allowed to enter the market; they are factory goods and must be centrally purchased and sold. They cannot be mixed with agricultural products.

Back in 65, we still had big markets here.

Back then, people could bring out their surplus items to sell, no matter how much they had. Even if it was just two eggs, they could put them in their pockets and go to the market to exchange them for a couple of candies to appease their children.

At this point, Captain Zhang exhaled a long breath, looked towards the front yard, and chuckled, "What a pity."

He turned to look at Chen Fan, who was staring blankly, and suddenly grinned, "Judging from your expression, I can tell you've never lived in the countryside before, otherwise you wouldn't be so ignorant. From the south to the north, there's no rural area without a market day; the only difference is the rules."

Chen Fan chuckled twice, "I forgot, I have no recollection of it."

Captain Zhang chuckled, "That's right. If you weren't out of your mind, you wouldn't be stuck here. You'd probably be enjoying a life of luxury in some high-ranking official's home."

Chen Fan looked down at himself. "A high-ranking official wearing cotton trousers with a belt?"

He had collected several sets of clothes, but no belt. At first, he asked Jiang Lili for a piece of hemp rope to use as a belt. Later, Jiang Lili sewed him a cotton belt. Luckily, he was thick-skinned, or he would have been mortified.

Upon hearing his words, Captain Zhang couldn't help but burst into laughter. He then said, "It's not far from here to the commune. Team 5 of Ganjiacun is right next to the commune. It's only a half-hour walk. You can go and see what's going on. Maybe someone will be selling belts."

Chen Fan stared wide-eyed. "A belt?"

Captain Zhang nodded. "Usually it's pigskin or some wild animal hides. Cow hides are all taken away by the higher-ups, so there definitely won't be any. Even if there were, they wouldn't dare to put them out for sale."

Once you have the leather, you can go to the commune and find a coppersmith to make a belt buckle. That'll make a good belt; as long as you don't pull on it carelessly, it can last for decades without breaking.

Chen Fan's eyes widened even more. "A coppersmith?"

Are there still self-operated handmade shops?

Captain Zhang laughed and said, "There are repair shops in the commune, with blacksmiths and coppersmiths. Blacksmiths mainly repair farm tools, kitchen knives and scissors, while coppersmiths are the former silversmiths. Later, when wearing gold and silver jewelry was forbidden, they switched to coppersmithing and made some delicate things. You don't need coupons to buy these things. Apart from the planned supply of raw materials, most of them are scrap iron and copper collected from the scrap yard. You can buy them for a little money, but they are not as nice as the belt buckles sold at the supply and marketing cooperative."

Chen Fan then realized that this was the kind of coppersmith.

After a long explanation, he finally understood what this "resumption of market days" meant, and then asked, "The date is the 19th of the twelfth lunar month, a Sunday, and the location is Team 5 of Ganjiacun Village. Are there any other arrangements?"

Captain Zhang patted his head, "Yes, yes, let me think."

After pausing for two seconds, he suddenly turned around and walked into the broadcasting room. “I just received a call from the commune. I didn’t even have time to write it down before I rushed over. I’ll write it down now, and you can read it from it.”

Chen Fan nodded. "That's even better."

Captain Zhang sat down at his desk, took out a stack of papers, pulled out his pen, and began writing rapidly.

As Chen Fan watched him write, he asked, "Captain, didn't our Captain Yang say that we can't make phone calls during the broadcast? Can the commune's phone call come in?"

Captain Zhang said without looking up, "You can't make phone calls on a line that's shared with the broadcasting station. Now that the switchboard is connected to the brigade headquarters, and the line between the brigade and the police station doesn't need the broadcasting station, it can be used anytime."

Chen Fan said "Oh" and then fell silent.

In no time, Captain Zhang had written more than half a page and turned to hand it to Chen Fan.

Chen Fan read it carefully twice, nodded, and said, "Okay, I understand."

The two-hour broadcast wasn't just about news.

Besides the news, there were also several opera performances, storytelling performances, a few songs, and even a 30-minute rebroadcast of "Little Trumpet".

"Little Trumpet" is a story program, mainly for listening to stories. Today's broadcast was "Journey to the West", but unfortunately the beginning and end didn't connect, leaving the audience confused.

Even so, adults and children alike sat under the loudspeaker, listening with great interest, regarding it as a rare form of entertainment.

At 8:30, the news started playing again.

Chen Fan was holding the market-going precautions written by Captain Zhang, writing and drawing on it, drafting his first notice.

Then I suddenly heard some news.

"On January 23, the excellent opera 'The Red Guards of Honghu Lake,' which had been shelved for ten years, was restaged in Wuhan. This is a great event for the cultural community..."

Chen Fan was stunned for a moment. If he remembered correctly, the re-performance of this musical drama represented the formal arrival of cultural breakthrough. From then on, various sealed songs, movies and other works were able to see the light of day again, breaking the monopoly of model operas.

After a couple of seconds of hesitation, he shook his head, reminding himself to be careful with his words and actions and to see how things went before making a decision.

Without a political background check certificate, it's impossible to enter the cultural system. For those outside the system who want to make money through culture, the only way is to earn royalties through writing.

Unfortunately, Chen Fan had previously watched a program featuring an older writer and remembered clearly that at that time, there were no royalties for writing and publishing articles!

Yes, no matter how many words you write, you don't get a single penny in royalties.

Because someone above said, "You have a job and a salary, and even if you're a member, you can earn work points. Why would you need royalties?"
That's something that only exists in capitalist societies!
Therefore, after transmigrating, Chen Fan never thought about making money through writing.

He also didn't know when the royalty system would be reinstated.

But hearing the news today that "The Red Guards of Honghu Lake" has resumed performances is a strong signal.

With these kinds of programs resuming, those old intellectuals who used to work in the fields can finally go back to work and fight for the benefits they lost.

So, the day when we can make money by writing shouldn't be too far away, right?!
Just as he was pondering this, the morning's broadcast came to an end, and a piercing "beep..." sound came from the loudspeaker.

Chen Fan snapped out of his daze, quickly turned off the radio, then turned on the microphone, said "hello" twice, and then said, "Fellow commune members, please pay attention, I am about to broadcast an important notice."

We have just received news from the commune that, after careful consideration by the commune leadership and in response to the fervent demands of the masses, it has been decided to hold a large-scale rural market…

Chen Fan's voice echoed over Lujiawan, and all three thousand villagers in the brigade stared intently at the loudspeaker, as if they could see something amazing in it.

It wasn't until the announcement was broadcast twice that everyone came to their senses, but some people still looked incredulous. "What did they say on the loudspeaker? The market is back?"

Someone nearby was already clapping with joy, "Yes, yes, you heard right, it's the 19th of the twelfth lunar month, in Team 5 of Ganjiacun. Anyone can participate as long as they go there. You can buy whatever you want, and you don't need tickets. You can even bring your own things to set up a stall. This is a big deal!"

Whether they wanted to buy or sell, everyone was beaming with joy at this moment.

Besides the excitement to watch, some people who think deeply about things even have an idea pop into their heads.

This is just a temporary market. Will it one day return to the twice-monthly market days, like before?
Those people are all gone, so it should be okay, right?

Chapter 4 is here. Thank you all for your subscriptions and support, and thank you to reader 08a for the donation!
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(End of this chapter)