Reborn in 1977

Chapter 17: Caught a Big One

After being smoked in the house for a while, Chen Fan listened to Captain Yang and the others discussing work arrangements for next year. He could understand the literal meaning, but he didn't understand why the arrangements were being made that way.

These three were all veterans, able to communicate clearly with just a few words, so they naturally wouldn't explain everything they said.

After listening in a daze, he couldn't sit still any longer.

He stood up and said, "Captain, Accountant, Storekeeper, Aunt Yang, you guys chat, I'll take off."

Captain Yang looked up at him, "Sit for a while longer, anyway, you have nothing to do back home. Just stay here and warm yourself by the fire."

Speaking of warming by the fire, he seemed to just remember, "Is it that your house is too cold to bear? I'll find you a brazier."

Chen Fan quickly stopped him, "No, no, it's really not that, I just can't stay idle."

Accountant Liu chuckled, "Young people are all like this. When those educated youths were here before, it was the same. They're like spinning tops, unable to sit still for even two minutes."

Chen Fan grinned, "Right, right, I just can't sit still."

After exchanging pleasantries, he opened the door and came out of the house, then turned around to close the door tightly.

Stepping outside, the air was instantly fresh and his spirits lifted.

It was too smoky in that house, and sitting by the fire always made him want to doze off. With nothing else to distract him, he would definitely fall asleep if he kept sitting there.

After taking a few breaths of the icy fresh air, he looked at the two pairs of cloth shoes in his hand. These were the legendary thousand-layer soles. In a few decades, these things would be out of print.

It's not that the craftsmanship is gone, but the sole of this shoe is made of cloth. Not only that, but the bottom is also covered with needle holes. It gets wet when it touches water, so it was naturally eliminated by waterproof rubber soles.

However, it's still very comfortable to wear these on sunny days. Later, many online stores sold these, and the price wasn't cheap.

Chen Fan separated the two pairs of shoes, putting one pair in each pocket of his cotton-padded jacket, planning to wash his feet and change into them when he got back. The cotton shoes on his feet were too dirty, and had several holes in them. If it weren't for the cold weather, he would rather go barefoot than wear these shoes.

Perhaps the sun had gone behind the clouds, the sky was gloomy, and only the wind was blowing. Walking down the slope, there really wasn't a single person outside.

Chen Fan counted as he walked, there were eighteen households on the back slope, four on the top of the slope, and twenty-three on the front slope, for a total of forty-five houses. Counting the educated youth center, that would be forty-six.

Generally speaking, when the production team was first established, a small team would have only twenty or thirty households. Smaller ones would have ten or so, or even seven or eight. This team actually had more than forty households, a strong force.

It's also possible that there were only twenty or thirty households before, and the increase was due to later divisions. After all, the production team has been established for almost twenty years, so doubling the number of households is normal.

In addition to the residential houses, Chen Fan also saw two rows of long, rectangular buildings on the southwest side. Without even going over, he could tell from the smell that it should be the team's pig farm.

He could also faintly hear the "ooh-ahh, ooh-ahh" sounds of donkeys from there, so the entire production team's livestock were probably raised there.

Chen Fan looked left and right, then walked to the other side.

To the east was the direction of the dam. He remembered that there were many ponds at the bottom of the slope, so he followed the ridges of the fields towards that side.

In winter, the ridges of the fields were full of withered yellow weeds. Although the soil was a little damp, it didn't stick to his shoes, making it quite comfortable to walk on.

Soon, he turned to the side of the pond, only to find that the water in the pond had almost completely dried up. The bottom of the pond, more than two meters deep, only had a thin layer of shallow water left. He couldn't see a single fish, giving it a desolate feeling.

Chen Fan hugged himself tightly in his cotton-padded jacket, and stared blankly for a while, then continued to walk forward.

There were a total of five ponds on this side. Although they were called five, they could actually only be considered one, because four small paths extended down from the slope, dividing the long and narrow pond into 5 parts.

However, the paths were cut off by a ditch more than a meter wide. To get to the dam from here, he had to cross a wooden bridge made of tree trunks, and then cross a vegetable garden before reaching the foot of the dam.

Chen Fan looked left and right, not knowing what he was looking at.

Anyway, with nothing to do, he just wandered around.

Just then, he suddenly stopped, his eyes staring straight at a few large turtles by the pond.

How heavy is a turtle bigger than a washbasin?

The question flashed through Chen Fan's mind, and he prepared to go down and catch the turtle.

But looking at the dark mud, he was a little hesitant to step down.

Looking again at the turtles lazily lying motionless on the muddy pond, and thinking of the skill he had just acquired, Chen Fan silently wondered, can turtles talk?

After thinking for a long time, he still didn't know how to communicate with the turtles. It seemed that his skill level was too low to call the turtles over, so he could only go over himself.

He found a gentle slope to go down, tentatively stepped into the muddy pond, and found that the mud had already hardened, almost the same as the soil on the ridges, so he walked directly over and grabbed the largest turtle from behind.

Chen Fan weighed it, "Wow, this turtle weighs at least 15 catties."

The big turtle was comfortably enjoying the breeze when it was suddenly turned upside down and stood up. It stretched out its head to look, but could only see the sky. Immediately, it stretched out its four limbs and claws, grabbing wildly, and its head also turned randomly.

Huh? It seems to see a monster?

Chen Fan glanced at the few big turtles beside him that were still motionless, and walked back to the ridge along the way he came. Only then did he carefully observe the turtle in his hand.

The entire carapace was more than forty centimeters long, with black spots, black and yellow patches, like it had vitiligo, but the color difference was not obvious. The four claws were very sharp, the tips of the claws were yellowish, and the color became darker towards the base, gradually becoming black-gray. The sharp claws grabbed wildly, but unfortunately, they could only grab the air.

Chen Fan didn't turn it over to look at its belly, he carried the big turtle and walked up the path.

After passing through a grove of miscellaneous trees, and then through the rice field in front of a household, he arrived at the main road.

Then he hurried to Captain Yang's house.

In the era of the production team, caution comes first!

This big turtle was caught in the pond, and he wasn't sure whether to hand it over, so he had to ask Captain Yang first.

Soon, he returned to Captain Yang's house. The first to greet him was still the big yellow dog.

This time, the big yellow dog didn't bark wildly at him. Obviously, it recognized him. It just whimpered twice, "You're here."

That's right, he was the first person it had ever met who could talk to it. Just this one, it would be hard not to remember.

Chen Fan ignored it, pushed open the gate with his elbow and said, "Captain, look, I caught a big one."

Then everyone in the room stared blankly at him.

Chen Fan blinked, looked around at everyone, and then looked at the big turtle in his hand, "What's wrong?"

Accountant Liu then said, between laughter and tears, "Why did you run off to catch this thing for no reason?"

Chen Fan's arm was a little sore from holding it for so long, so he turned the turtle over and put it on the ground, stepping on its belly with one foot, and asked in confusion, "Can't I catch this?"