Reborn in 1977

With the money and goods for the livestock settled, the next step was to go to the派出所 (pàichūsuǒ - police station) to register and get a license.

Chen Fan had a clear understanding of his own status.

Don't think that just because he was now respectfully addressed as 'Master Chen' wherever he went, and even called 'Teacher Chen' in Lujiawan, things would be simple.

At the police station, he was still a 'foreigner of unknown origin,' a key target for supervision.

Chen Fan now knew that in the South Lake Commune, and even in the entire Yunhu area and even Jiangnan Province, many towns and villages had a considerable number of 'foreigners of unknown origin' residing there.

Most of these people had come to escape famine.

In big cities, not to mention people of unknown origin, even rural migrants with clear origins were subject to strict control. The term 'blind wanderer' didn't just appear after the 1980s; as early as the 1950s, there were regulations for managing the 'blindly wandering' population, which led to the term 'blind wanderer'.

Therefore, those fleeing famine basically didn't run to big cities but instead drifted to towns and villages with less strict management.

In towns and villages, there were also investigations into foreigners, but they were mostly not very strict.

When outsiders came, either the militia would investigate, or the police from the police station would inquire (back then, a distant relative of mine did this job and often showed off his broken revolver; it wasn't even a standard-issue gun, what was there to show off? But at that time, the police were also equipped with guns to guard against saboteurs; there weren't enough standard-issue guns, so they could only pick up the militia's junk).

If any suspicious situation was discovered, it would naturally be transferred to the relevant units. But most of the time, it was just a routine inquiry. If the other party concealed their origin, they wouldn't be too harsh.

Because there were too many such people. Every year, a large number of people drifted within the country, and it was impossible to manage them all. They concealed their origins because they were afraid of being sent back.

And the towns and villages had nothing that enemy agents would covet, so they relaxed their vigilance.

In addition, people in this era still retained the atmosphere of 'learning from Lei Feng as a good example.' They would even offer lodging to beggars who came to their door at night if they had the means, so they were mostly tolerant of these foreigners.

The wealth and simple folk customs of the Jiangnan area also made some foreigners want to stay and settle down.

But settling down was settling down. Within a certain period, the police station would still strengthen management of these people. Usually, the street and neighborhood committees were responsible, and in important situations, the police station would need to take action themselves.

Now, Chen Fan's situation belonged to 'important situation'.

If others bought guns without registering, no problem. Him? No way!

After rolling up the two hunting rifles in straw mats and stuffing the pistol into his pocket, Chen Fan rode out of the veterinary station.

The veterinary station was on East Construction Road, and the police station and commune government compound were both on West Construction Road, where he had never been before.

Anyway, it was just a straight road, and the place was easy to find. The mare trotted for a few minutes, and he could see the small courtyard with the sign 'South Lake Commune Water and Land Police Station' hanging on the wall.

As everyone knows, police stations only manage the public security work of streets or towns within their jurisdiction. If a case occurs on the water, there will generally be special water police to deal with it, after all, ordinary police stations don't have boats.

But the Water and Land Police Station was no ordinary station. It could manage things on land and on water. In addition to bicycles, they also had speedboats.

The Yunhu city area had a network of waterways, and almost all of the districts and counties had waterways, and they were intertwined with the land, making it difficult to clearly delineate responsibility boundaries.

Therefore, a large number of township police stations in the Yunhu area were Water and Land Police Stations. Except for not managing the sky, they could manage everything on land and water.

When he arrived at the gate of the courtyard, Chen Fan dismounted and led the horse in.

A policeman happened to be walking out of the two-story red brick office building. Seeing Chen Fan leading the horse in, he asked loudly, 'What are you doing? Reporting a case or handling business?'

This shout immediately attracted several people from the building. Many people stood on the corridors upstairs and downstairs.

Chen Fan couldn't help but wipe away a cold sweat.

Good heavens, how idle are you people, waiting for someone to report a case?

Under the gaze of everyone, he quickly said, 'Hello, Comrade Police, I'm here to handle some business. Uh, is Officer Zhu here? I'm from Lujiawan.'

The police station also had designated areas of responsibility. Lujiawan belonged to Officer Zhu's area of responsibility. When Chen Fan came here, it was Officer Zhu who came to handle the matter.

Fortunately, this old comrade had sharp eyes and found that Chen Fan was harmless. If there was anything wrong with him, he would probably still be emptying the latrine in the detention center.

Hearing Chen Fan's words, the policemen who had just come out quickly shrank back. The wind outside was also quite strong. Since they weren't looking for them, then there was no need to stand in the cold wind.

Only the person who asked Chen Fan nodded suddenly, 'From Lujiawan, huh? You come in and sit down, I'll call Lao Zhu for you.'

Then he took Chen Fan to a room, asked him to sit down, poured him a glass of hot water, and then turned and went out.

After a while, Officer Zhu, whom he had met twice, walked in.

As soon as he saw Chen Fan, he smiled and said, 'It's you. I was wondering which Lujiawan person came to find me.'

Then he took off his hat, pulled out a chair, sat down in front of the desk, facing Chen Fan, and smiled, 'You're quite something. In the past month, I've heard a lot of big news about you. First you became a broadcaster, then a veterinarian, and you even published two articles in the Prefectural Committee Daily.'

'Seriously, that report on the militia training was really well written. It reminded me of when I was a soldier in the army...'

Chen Fan didn't even have a chance to speak. He just listened to Officer Zhu babbling on and on. He even drank half a glass of hot water, but he didn't stop.

It wasn't until he had said enough that he looked at Chen Fan and said, 'Look at my brain, I forgot you were here to handle business. Tell me, what's the matter?'

Chen Fan finally let out a long breath and quickly said, 'I bought a few guns and came to register and get a gun license.'

'Bought guns?'

Officer Zhu was stunned for a moment, and his brow furrowed slightly. 'What kind of guns?'

Chen Fan had already picked up the straw mat, carried it horizontally, and placed it on the desk, untied the straw mat, and then took out the small pistol from his pocket, 'Just these.'

Officer Zhu's brow immediately relaxed, and he laughed, 'Oh, it turns out to be two hunting rifles and a small pistol. I thought it was a rifle.'

Then he took out a few pieces of paper from the drawer, wrote while saying, 'These guns have an effective range of only a few dozen meters, so it's not a big problem. If it was a rifle, it wouldn't be allowed unless you were in the militia.'

After saying this, he looked up at Chen Fan and asked, 'By the way, what are you buying guns for?'

Chen Fan immediately said the reason he had prepared, 'I'm learning to be a veterinarian now, and I might encounter times when livestock go crazy, so I wanted to buy guns for self-defense.'

Officer Zhu's eyes rolled slightly, 'That reason is plausible.'

He picked up the small pistol again, 'What about the pistol? Is that also for shooting livestock?'

Chen Fan coughed dryly, 'I usually carry the pistol on me. If I encounter small livestock like dogs or pigs going crazy, I'll use the pistol. If I encounter large livestock like horses or cattle, I'll use the hunting rifle.'

Officer Zhu nodded and continued writing, while saying, 'I haven't seen livestock going crazy, but it's not bad to take precautions.'

After writing for a while, he took out three pieces of cardboard, wrote the information on them, stamped them, and then took out a steel stamp, put the cardboard on one by one, and pressed down the lever to stamp them.

Then he turned and handed them to Chen Fan, and said solemnly, 'Here's your license, but be careful when using it. Hunting is allowed, but you must never point it at people, understand?'

Chen Fan stood at attention, 'I guarantee I won't mess around.'