Reborn in 1977

Chapter 15: Increasing Skills

Back in his room, Chen Fan continued reading, but after a while, he couldn't focus. His mind was filled with Jiang Lili's words from earlier.

They ate the chicken and didn't raise the pig.

Everyone else went home for the New Year, and they didn't even leave a little something for the girl?

Weren't they being a little too heartless?!

After a while, Chen Fan couldn't sit still any longer. He put down his book and got up to go outside.

He walked to Jiang Lili's door and greeted her, "Hey, Xiaojiang."

Jiang Lili immediately came over, "Coming."

After a pause, a strange look flashed in her eyes, and she asked softly, "Chen, Chen Fan, can I ask you something?"

Chen Fan was about to speak, but hearing her say this, he smiled and said, "Go ahead."

Jiang Lili looked at him curiously, "How old are you this year?"

Chen Fan blinked, guessing what she meant, and said, "Eighteen."

Having turned sixteen, approaching seventeen, and adding one for good measure, eighteen seemed reasonable enough.

Besides, his real age was already 28, so calling her Xiaojiang wasn't a problem.

Jiang Lili nodded in realization, "Oh, so you're a year older than me."

Since he was older than her, it was fine for him to call her Xiaojiang. She had thought Chen Fan was only around 16 years old.

Chen Fan continued to blink, "What year were you born?"

Jiang Lili, "I'm a '59."

Chen Fan, "Oh, so you're a '50s baby."

Calculating in his head, she was 17 this year? She went to the countryside three years ago, so she came out at 14?

The timing was about right. The guidance age for starting elementary school now is 7 years old. After finishing 5 years of elementary school and 2 years of junior high school, it would be exactly 14 years old. No problem.

Jiang Lili was a little confused, (⊙_⊙) "Huh?"

Chen Fan, "'50s baby' means someone born in the 1950s."

Jiang Lili, (⊙﹏⊙) "Oh."

Where did that saying come from?

Just as she was about to ask Chen Fan what he needed, Chen Fan pointed outside and said, "I'm going for a walk in the village. Just letting you know."

Jiang Lili smiled and nodded, "Okay, I understand. Go ahead."

Then she realized that she seemed to have smiled? So she quickly lowered her head.

Chen Fan waved his hand. Well, she couldn't see him anyway, so he smiled and said, "I'm leaving. Bye-bye."

Then he turned and walked outside.

Jiang Lili looked at his back, her eyes filled with curiosity, "Bye-bye?"

Although she started learning English in junior high school, in the current environment, not many people used English regularly. At most, close classmates would drop a word or two. He even used English in everyday conversation?

Chen Fan left the courtyard. Directly in front of the courtyard entrance was a cedar forest. Looking out, it was impossible to count how many trees there were, but it looked like at most one or two hundred. The leaves of all the cedar trees were already withered and yellow, and there was a layer of yellowish-green fallen leaves on the ground. A large patch of yellow gathered together. In a few decades, this would definitely be a popular spot for internet celebrities to take pictures.

Walking west along the cedar trees for about ten meters, there was a dirt road about five meters wide.

Chen Fan put his hands in his pockets, tightened his loose cotton-padded jacket, and stepped onto the road.

On the left was the cedar forest, and on the right was a bare dirt slope.

This village, built on a dirt slope, ran from north to south. At the northern end was the educated youth center. To the east was the river embankment, and to the west, north, and south were farmland.

However, unlike the flat fields of the north, this was clearly a hilly area. Every so often, there was a raised dirt slope. These dirt slopes were either used for housing or were reclaimed into dry land.

Therefore, the farmland here was not very standardized, but was distributed according to the rule that low-lying areas were paddy fields and slopes and highlands were dry land, scattered and difficult to manage intensively.

Chen Fan walked higher and higher on the path, occasionally passing a low mud-walled house.

As he had seen on the embankment, in front of these houses was a flat rice field. After harvesting the crops, they could be spread out here to dry.

As for the large, unified drying fields of northern rural areas, there were none here. The reason was simple: there wasn't that much flat land!

So they could only break it down into smaller parts and pull the crops to the front of each house to dry.

When Chen Fan's parents were still alive in his previous life, he had lived in his grandmother's house in the countryside for a while. Although it wasn't in Gufeng County, but near the prefectural committee, the situation was similar.

Thinking of this, Chen Fan suddenly felt a little curious and expectant. He wondered if his grandmother and mother were here? If they were, his mother should be 7 years old?

Shaking his head, he was currently unstable, without a household registration and no money. He couldn't go anywhere, and thinking about these things was useless. Once he solved his household registration and saved some money, he would definitely go there to take a look.

Perhaps because of the cold wind in winter, the doors of each household were tightly closed, with only the windows open for ventilation.

So Chen Fan hadn't seen a single person all the way up here.

This path wasn't straight either, but was built on the ridge of the slope, a little winding.

The houses weren't aligned either, but were staggered from each other, so a house only had neighbors in front and behind, with empty spaces on both sides.

Some were even located at bends, with no neighbors in front, behind, left, or right, just a single thatched cottage hanging there, hidden in the bushes, with a bit of wild charm.

But as long as you came out the door and shouted, the nearby people could hear you.

He felt that this kind of village, integrated with nature, was much more interesting than the regular houses of later generations.

Chen Fan walked and looked around, and soon reached the top of the slope.

There were four households at the top of the slope, also scattered apart.

Compared to the houses at the bottom of the slope, the ones at the top were obviously older, probably because the houses above were built first, and then built down in order.

He suddenly remembered Captain Yang saying that his home was on the top of the slope, so he stood in the middle of the road and looked around, wondering which one was his house.

Just then, a dog bark startled him.

Turning around, he saw a large yellow dog standing at the door of a house, staring at him gloomily, opening its mouth and barking loudly from time to time.

It also occasionally looked back into the house, whimpering as if calling for someone.

Most importantly, this house didn't have a courtyard wall!

Oh no.

Chen Fan's heart jumped to his throat. Was this dog going to bite him?

The dog didn't seem to like that he wasn't leaving, and no one came out of the house, so it became angry and rushed forward.

Chen Fan knew he had to do something, or the dog might rush up and bite him.

He took a deep breath, spread his arms, stood with his feet shoulder-width apart, squatted slightly, and unleashed a Lion's Roar at the big yellow dog, "Awoo~, awoo~, awoo~, ..."

Perhaps the dog had never seen such a dog-like person, and was frightened back two or three steps. When it realized that the person wasn't coming, it ran back to its original spot, stood still, tilted its head, and decided to test it again, "Woof woof."

Chen Fan saw that the dog had actually run back, so he could only continue, "Awoo~ awoo~"

"Woof woof."

"Awoo~ awoo~"

"Woof woof."

"Awoo~ awoo~"

Just then, Chen Fan heard a "ding" sound, and the voice in his head appeared again.

"Communicating with a dog, reward Beast Language experience +1, current Animal Language skill level 1."

What?

Beast Language skill?

There's such a thing? And it came from arguing with a dog?

Chen Fan was completely stunned. Could it be that I've become Gongye Chang? ? ?