Reborn in 1977

Chapter 24: A Long Day

In any case, increasing physique is a good thing.

If only I could increase my strength one day. With only 5 points of strength, I'm practically 'too weak to truss a chicken.' In this production team where women are used as men and men are used as donkeys, it's hard for a grown man like me to hold his head up.

Chen Fan sat on the chair in a cheerful mood, watching Jiang Lili bustling about. He suddenly thought of a question, "Hey, Xiaojiang, isn't this place called Lujiawan? How come I haven't heard of anyone named Lu here?"

Generally speaking, places named after a surname usually have a large clan of the same surname. But today, he'd been listening for a long time, hearing about people named Yang, Liu, and Huang. Even the barefoot doctor in the brigade headquarters was named Zhang, but he hadn't heard of anyone named Lu. It was quite strange.

Jiang Lili turned her head and glanced at him, softly saying, "Because in the past, the entire Lujiawan, and even the river section next to it, belonged to the Lu family. Other families could only be considered Lu family's tenants, so this area is called Lujiawan."

Chen Fan immediately widened his eyes. Such a large piece of land belonged to the Lu family?

A big tycoon!

Then, somewhat curious, he asked, "Then where are the Lu family people?"

"Well,"

Jiang Lili stopped the bowl in her hand, her expression rather strange, "I also heard it from the commune members when they were working. They said that when the Japanese devils attacked, the Lu family scattered their clansmen, leaving only one branch to guard the house. Now, that branch only has an old man left, but I haven't seen him, and I don't know about the other situations."

After a pause, she added,

"The current Lujiawan Production Team's brigade headquarters is the former Lu family mansion. During the Anti-Japanese War, it was occupied by the Japanese devils. Later, in 1945, when Nanhua was liberated, it was confiscated and became public property. I went there once. It's a large area of green brick and tile houses. It's said that the entire Lu family, more than a hundred people, lived there back then. Counting the hired laborers, it wasn't much different from the commune town."

Hearing these words, Chen Fan couldn't help but feel a little lost in thought.

A large family turning into one branch, one branch turning into one person.

The vicissitudes of life in those years were truly a twist of fate.

After Jiang Lili cleaned up, Chen Fan also got up and returned to his room.

At this time, the sky had already darkened, with only the moonlight scattering a bit of light.

Returning to the room, Chen Fan groped in the dark for matches and lit the kerosene lamp. He then closed all four windows one by one, otherwise the cold air would be heavy at night, and catching a cold would be troublesome.

He then took a wooden basin to the kitchen to fetch water and brought it back to wash up.

The windows of the earthen-walled house had two layers. The outer layer was a wooden fence for security, and the inner layer was two small wooden doors, each a foot high and half a foot wide. There was even a small wooden latch to prevent someone from opening them from the outside.

During the day, the window doors could be opened for ventilation, and then closed at night, which was very convenient. But if you wanted to close them during the day, there would be no light in the room, because these doors didn't even have window paper, they were all solid wood.

Earlier at Captain Yang's house, Chen Fan noticed that his windows were window grilles, covered with window paper, so even with the doors closed, light could still pass through. It's just that window paper is easy to break and needs to be repaired frequently.

After a flurry of activity, he finally settled down.

What a long day!

Actually, it was still early at this time, probably around 7 p.m. at most. If this were before the transmigration, the news wouldn't have even started yet, and I would still be on the bus. After getting home, cooking, and taking a shower, I would be curled up in bed playing on my phone, and it would already be 12 p.m. by the time I went to sleep.

But now it's only 7 p.m. Should I go to sleep?

Chen Fan leaned back in his chair, sitting idly while soaking his feet.

He had already slept for who knows how many hours yesterday, and he hadn't felt sleepy all day today. Just now, he suddenly added points to his physique, making him feel incredibly energetic. How was he supposed to sleep?

His mind wandered, and his gaze finally fell on that little red book.

Since there's nothing to do, let's study!

In the dim light of the kerosene lamp, Chen Fan opened the book.

After graduating from university, Chen Fan hadn't read a book seriously. Even when reading novels online, he would skim through them, not really using his brain.

But reading this kind of book requires reading it word by word, and you have to think while reading, otherwise it's better not to read it at all. But as a result, the speed of reading is very slow.

He didn't know how long it had been, but even the water in the foot-washing basin had turned cold before Chen Fan finished reading an article.

Under normal circumstances, he should already be drowsy at this time. But for some reason, not only did he not feel sleepy, but he felt even more energetic?

Just then, Chen Fan heard a "ding" sound.

"You have learned useful knowledge, your wisdom has been improved, and your spirit has been sublimated. Reward Intelligence +1, Spirit +1. Current Intelligence 9/10, Spirit 9/10."

The next second, Chen Fan felt a cool stream of air flowing through his brain, as if washing his entire brain, making his mind incomparably clear.

If he could go back, he guaranteed that he could improve his work efficiency by a factor of two, and even pass the civil service exam.

As for now?

Chen Fan pondered for two seconds, feeling that it would be better to add points to strength first.

He doesn't have an identity or household registration, so it's impossible to sign up for the college entrance examination, so what's the use of learning knowledge? His background is unknown, and no unit would dare to hire him.

At least in the short term, staying in Lujiawan is his only way out.

In that case, it's definitely better to have more strength.

Of course, being able to increase basic attributes is always a good thing. Chen Fan also felt that he was being greedy.

Finding another way to add points, Chen Fan prepared to continue his efforts.

But when he saw the kerosene lamp, he suddenly woke up. This thing consumes oil! What if there's no oil? Should he shamelessly go to Captain Yang, or brazenly ask Jiang Lili to borrow some?

Immediately, without saying a word, he dried his feet, ran out to the courtyard wall to pour out the water, came back and closed the gate, put away all the other things, spread out the quilt, and prepared to sleep.

But when he was about to put out the light, he ran into trouble.

How do you put this thing out?

Blow it out? There's a lampshade.

Chen Fan wanted to take off the lampshade, but the lampshade was too hot, and he didn't have anything handy. He couldn't use a towel to grab it, right? That cold towel touching the hot lampshade would be too much!

Blow it out from the top?

Looking at the wisps of black smoke, he didn't dare to bring his mouth close.

He stared blankly at the kerosene lamp for a while, trying hard to recall his past life in the countryside... Oh, that was around the new millennium, and it wasn't a remote mountain area. Which household didn't have electricity?

After studying the kerosene lamp for a long time, he finally accidentally pinched the wick post and turned it, shrinking the wick inward, and the lamplight instantly became smaller.

Chen Fan's eyes lit up, and he continued to lower it. Seeing that the tip of the wick was shrinking into the lamp holder, the bean-sized flame jumped twice, and finally went out.

Once the light went out, the entire room was pitch black, and nothing could be seen.

Even if you closed your eyes for half a minute and then opened them, you still couldn't see even an outline.

There was no other way. He could only grope to take off his cotton-padded coat and put it on the opposite bed. Without even taking off his pajamas, he staggered to his bed and lay down, quickly wrapping himself tightly in the quilt. After a while, his body finally warmed up again.

Speaking of which, this straw-padded mattress is quite warm. Except for being a little prickly, it's neither too soft nor too hard, and it warms up quickly. If there were a bed sheet, it would be quite comfortable to lie on.

But now he's penniless and still owes 30 pounds of white rice. Where would he get a bed sheet?

Lying in the bed, Chen Fan's mind wandered, and he didn't know how long it had been before he fell asleep groggily.