Reborn in 1977

After bandaging her wound, Chen Fan cleaned her other foot and placed it on a chair. He emptied the basin of water, refilled it with hot water, and placed it in her room.

Then, he walked over, lifted her up, chair and all, and said as he walked, "I've prepared hot water for you. Go wash yourself and change clothes. Don't push yourself today. Just throw your clothes in the basin, and I'll wash them for you."

Being carried around by Chen Fan and hearing him offer to wash her clothes, Jiang Lili, despite her attempts to remain calm, felt her face burning. She could only repeat, "No need, really no need, I can do it myself…"

Chen Fan placed her in front of the basin, put a pair of clean shoes beside her, stood up, and smiled, "You used to help me wash clothes all the time. Can't I wash them for you once today?"

Jiang Lili was about to say something, but he turned and walked out, "I'll be outside. Call me if you need anything."

With that, he closed the door.

Then, he raised his head, wondering what he had forgotten.

Oh, right, he forgot to find her clean clothes.

But he really didn't dare to look for clothes in a girl's wardrobe. Forget it, it's only a few meters away, let her find them herself.

Afterward, he went to the back of the yard, picked out two branches of suitable length and thickness, brought them to the front yard, and took out his woodworking tools to start working.

Saw, plane, chisel, and other tools were used in turn. In no time, two T-shaped crutches were freshly made.

Although they weren't perfectly straight, they were only for temporary use, so he couldn't ask for too much. Then, he found a ball of cotton and coarse cloth in the room and wrapped them around the crossbar of the crutches.

Luckily, he had saved three pounds of cotton when he sold cotton earlier, otherwise, he would have had to use coarse cloth, which would have been very rough.

After finishing the wrapping, he carried the crutches to Jiang Lili's door. He was about to knock when he heard the sound of washing clothes. He couldn't help but stand at the door and say, "Are you done yet? I'm coming in."

Jiang Lili's flustered voice immediately sounded from inside, "Not, not yet."

Chen Fan leaned against the doorframe and said unhappily, "Tell me the truth, are you washing your clothes yourself?"

There was silence inside.

After a few seconds, Chen Fan directly pushed the door open. Jiang Lili was sitting on a small stool, her injured leg stretched out straight. The basin contained her dirty clothes, and the clear water had become a basin of mud.

Everyone was like this when transplanting rice seedlings. Muddy water covered people, and even their hair was not spared. It was only because it was still morning and the transplanting had just begun, otherwise, she would have been even dirtier.

Seeing Chen Fan come in, Jiang Lili raised her head and chuckled dryly twice, then quickly lowered her head.

Seeing her like this, Chen Fan couldn't help but want to laugh. Then, he quickly held it back, coughed dryly, walked over, and placed the two crutches upright on the ground, "Try them and see if they work well. If they are too high, I'll shorten them a bit. If they are too short, you'll just have to make do."

Jiang Lili turned her head to look at the two crutches, feeling a little dazed. After a few seconds, she looked up at him, "No, isn't this a bit too much?"

Chen Fan looked at her and smiled, "Without crutches, how will you walk?"

Just as Jiang Lili tilted her head and imagined, Chen Fan lifted his left foot and hopped around the room on his right foot, "Are you going to walk like this?"

Jiang Lili burst out laughing, giggling non-stop, "Of course not."

Chen Fan walked over and looked at her, "If not, then get up and try the crutches. If you don't use them, are you going to keep them for me to use later?"

Jiang Lili immediately glared at him, "Don't talk nonsense."

Chen Fan smiled, "Okay, okay, I won't say it anymore. I'll help you up."

Jiang Lili blushed and, with his support, stood up. Then, she took the two crutches and tried to walk a few steps. At first, she was a little unaccustomed, but she quickly got used to them. She raised her head, looked at Chen Fan, and smiled, "The height is just right, they work very well."

"It's good that they work well."

Chen Fan bent down to pick up the basin of clothes, stood up, and said, "However, even if they work well, don't move around too much. Rest and recover these days. Don't think about going to work. Even if you're missing, it won't delay the work."

Jiang Lili watched him leave, then followed him out, leaning on her crutches.

Chen Fan quickly rubbed the clothes clean, brought a bucket of clean water, rinsed them twice, and hung them on the bamboo pole to dry.

Although they were just outer garments, Jiang Lili was already blushing with embarrassment.

At this moment, she noticed a patch of mud on Chen Fan's body and realized that he must have gotten it on himself when he hugged her earlier. She whispered, "Your clothes are also dirty. You should change."

Chen Fan looked down and saw that a large part of his clothes was indeed dirty. He couldn't help but chuckle, "I just thought you were dirty, but I didn't realize I had gotten dirty too."

As he spoke, he suddenly raised his head, "Hey, would you say this is like the crow landing on the pig, unable to see its own blackness?"

When Jiang Lili heard this, she was both annoyed and amused, "Even if you are a crow, I am not a pig."

Chen Fan didn't avoid her and directly took off his coat and threw it into the basin. He went to the room to change clothes wearing only a vest, and said at the same time, "What's wrong with being a pig? The whole body is a treasure, and you can eat meat. Don't you think it's delicious when you eat pork?"

Jiang Lili was immediately speechless with anger, wishing she could hit him with her crutches. Looking at the tight, smooth muscles on his arms, and remembering the moment when he hugged her, her heart couldn't help but beat faster.

Chen Fan entered the room, changed his clothes, came out, and continued with a smile, "Also, don't look down on crows. Crows are auspicious birds, and they feed their parents, making them the most filial animals, better than many people. So, saying that I am a crow and you are a pig is a good thing."

Jiang Lili wrinkled her nose angrily, "You are the pig."

Chen Fan smiled, "That's fine too. If I am the pig, then you are the crow."

Jiang Lili was helpless. When someone becomes ruthless, they even scold themselves. What could she do?

Chen Fan soaked the clothes in water, but didn't wash them immediately. Instead, he went into her room, brought out a chair, and placed it at the door, "Sit down. When you stand, blood rushes down, putting pressure on the wound, making it easy to burst."

Jiang Lili obediently leaned on her crutches and sat down, quietly watching him wash clothes, her eyes gradually becoming a little dazed, not knowing what she was thinking.

After a while, she suddenly came back to her senses, took a deep breath, and said nonchalantly, "I know about crows feeding their parents. Where did you hear that crows are auspicious birds?"

Folklore only has rumors of magpies bringing good news and crows bringing bad news. She had never heard of this view before.

Chen Fan turned his head to look at her, vigorously rubbing the clothes, and smiled, "You would know if you read more books. From ancient times to the present, crows have both black and white, good and bad, auspicious birds and omens of misfortune."

‘A crow brings good news, hence the rise of the Zhou,’ ‘In the Valley of the Sun, there is a Fusang tree, one sun arriving, one sun departing, both carried by crows.’ In ancient times, these sayings all considered crows auspicious symbols. There's even Crow Ridge in Wudang Mountain, dedicated to the worship of crows. Legend says that when the Great Emperor Zhenwu arrived at Wudang Mountain, it was crows that led the way, finding the right place to build Taoist temples. Therefore, in Taoism, crows are truly auspicious birds.

However, in Qu Yuan's 'Li Sao,' there are also lines like, ‘Luan birds and phoenixes fly far away; swallows and sparrows nest in halls and altars.’ And the 'Book of Songs, Beifeng, Northern Wind' says, ‘Nothing is redder than a fox, nothing is blacker than a crow.’ These writings regard crows as petty people and tyrants.

Actually, when all is said and done, it's all about how humans interpret it. If you want to see crows as harbingers of doom, they are harbingers of doom. If you think crows are good birds, they are auspicious birds.”

Jiang Lili watched Chen Fan speak eloquently, her eyes unwilling to look away.

After he finished speaking, she smiled brightly and said, “You know so much.”

Chen Fan said without looking up, “The more books you read, the more you naturally know.”

In his heart, he silently thanked Fourth Master Lu. If he hadn't brought him two thread-bound books every now and then to practice his calligraphy, where would he have found these classical books to read?

Decades later, how many people would still be able to calm down and read these things? Even if they learned a little bit from textbooks, they would forget everything after graduation. Only in the past, without computers, mobile phones, the internet, or games, with fewer distractions, would people have the patience to read these books word by word.

Of course, patience had nothing to do with him. He relied on the skill panel to improve. Together with creative writing, it was categorized under the "Literature" skill. Every time he read and wrote, he could gain experience points in "Literature" and "Calligraphy," and occasionally "Painting" would also jump up a bit.

This was also normal. Calligraphy inherently included the painting techniques of traditional Chinese painting. Writing with a brush every day, it was reasonable to gain some painting experience points. He even suspected that when these skills reached a high level, they might merge into one, such as "Art" or something, and maybe he could even learn to dance without a teacher.

Chen Fan shook his head, throwing the thought to the back of his mind, turned to look at Jiang Lili, and asked, “When you go to work in the fields again, be careful. There are many snakes, insects, rats, and ants in the fields. Even if there aren't any clam shells, there will be some bugs and snakes, so it's better to be careful.”

Jiang Lili smiled slightly awkwardly, “Oh, I understand.”

She couldn't possibly say that she was only focused on looking at him just now and didn't pay attention to her feet, so she stepped down hard, could she?

Otherwise, the paddy fields are full of soft mud. If you step down and feel something hard, as long as you immediately retract your foot, your sole won't be cut.

But it was really unlucky. How could there be a clam shell right there?

But if there hadn't been a clam shell, he wouldn't have hugged her… For a moment, Jiang Lili's mind was racing, and she felt ashamed.

Chen Fan finished washing the clothes, shook them twice, and hung them on the bamboo pole, then poured the water directly onto the ground.

A group of half-grown chickens slowly ran over to peck at the water.

Chen Fan glanced at them and couldn't help but sigh, “So ugly.”

Jiang Lili looked at him strangely, then looked at the chickens, her eyes a little confused. Where were they ugly?

But thinking about the fluffy appearance of the chicks before, it really couldn't compare now, but it wasn't ugly, right?

Chen Fan walked over with the basin, still saying, “So, all animals are the same, the smaller they are, the cuter they are, the older they get, the uglier they become.”

Hearing this, Jiang Lili couldn't help but puff up her cheeks, wanting to refute him, but she was more beautiful than when she was a child, but in the end, she didn't dare to speak.

Chen Fan put the basin back in his room, and Jiang Lili realized at this time that the basin she had just used was Chen Fan's, and she couldn't help but blush again.

Just then, Chen Fan came out of the room, holding a large envelope in his hand, and beckoned to her, “Come here, I'll show you something good.”

After speaking, he walked into the adjacent general-purpose room.

Jiang Lili stood up, leaning on her crutch, lifting her left foot, and followed him in, taking a step and leaning on the crutch.

Chen Fan put the envelope on the table, motioned for her to sit down, and said with a smile, “Guess, what is this?”

Jiang Lili held on to the corner of the table and sat down on the chair, looked at the envelope twice, and when she saw the small words “Jiangnan Literature Publishing House” in the corner, she immediately widened her eyes and suddenly raised her head to look at him, “Wow, your novel is published?”

Chen Fan laughed and took out two sample copies, picked up one and handed it to her, “Take a look.”

Jiang Lili quickly put the crutch against the table, reached out to take it, but then retracted her hand, wiped her hands on her clothes, and then took it with both hands.

Opening the cover, Jiang Lili quickly found the name of the novel written by Chen Fan, “On the Field of Hope.”

The name was naturally given by Chen Fan, borrowing the song created by Mr. Chen Xiaoguang and Mr. Shi Guangnan, but the content has nothing to do with the song. It's all about the stories of the cadres stationed in the countryside.

Jiang Lili quickly turned to that page and became engrossed in reading the magazine.

Chen Fan looked at her for a long time and couldn't help but twitch his mouth slightly. She had copied and sent this manuscript, and she didn't know how many times she had read it. What was so good about it?

He originally wanted to share the joy of the harvest with her, but now he can only enjoy it alone first.

Opening the small envelope, he poured out a stack of coupons. The first thing that caught his eye was more than a dozen industrial coupons.

Chen Fan's eyes lit up immediately, beautiful!

Industrial coupons are hard currency, and almost all industrial products use them. No one thinks they have too many of these things. He still owes Zhou, the head of the veterinary station, two industrial coupons. He originally thought about waiting until the end of the year when the production team distributed dividends before returning them, but now he can return them in advance.

He picked up the coupons, first separated them according to different types, and then prepared to count them.

Just then, a voice came from outside the door, “Little Chen, Little Chen, are you home?”

Judging from the voice, it should be An Quan coming over.

Jiang Lili also suddenly came back to her senses, looked at him, and then looked outside the door.

If her foot hadn't been injured, she would definitely have run back to her room to hide at this time, but now it was too late to hide.

Chen Fan smiled at her, “It's okay, you just sit here.”

Then he walked out while shouting loudly, “I'm here.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw An Quan walking in, swinging his hands. When he saw Chen Fan, he immediately laughed and said, “Congratulations, congratulations, treat us, you must treat us.”

Chen Fan widened his eyes, “Treat you for what?”

An Quan pointed at him, “Pretend, keep pretending.”

Then he rubbed his hands and smiled, “Where's the sample copy? Hurry up and take it out and let me see it. I haven't seen a sample copy before. That's 'Jiangnan Literature'!”

So that's what it was?!

Chen Fan breathed a sigh of relief and pointed to the room, “It's inside, come and take a look.”