Reborn in 1977

After safely packing everything, they prepared to leave.

Before leaving, An Quan shared a piece of news with Chen Fan, "Internal news, if nothing goes wrong, a projectionist will come to your 10th team to show a movie in three days."

"What? Show a movie?"

Chen Fan looked at him in surprise, "Are you kidding me?"

An Quan chuckled, "What good would it do me to tease you?"

Chen Fan said, "But I haven't received any notice."

Normally, as the broadcaster, he should be the most well-informed person in the entire brigade. He often knew things before the leaders in the brigade headquarters, like the news about the resumption of the regular farmers' market.

At that time, Secretary Yang told him before even Team Leader Xiao and Team Leader Ye were informed.

So, it was unreasonable for An Quan to know before him.

Could it be that the brigade headquarters had already notified Zhang Cuie, and he was about to fall out of favor?

An Quan sneered twice, looked at him, and said, "Do you know which unit my wife works in?"

Chen Fan's eyes darted around, and he decisively shook his head, "You haven't said, and Team Leader Yang and the others haven't mentioned it either."

An Quan pointed at him, "That's because you haven't asked."

After a pause, he looked proud, pointed in the direction of the commune, and said proudly, "The Cultural Station!"

In this era, the Cultural Station was not like later on, when it became a marginal department. Nowadays, the Cultural Station had a wide range of responsibilities, especially in studying documents, the Cultural Station was the main force. In addition, the cultural activities were relatively monotonous at this time, so the Cultural Station became a popular choice. No wonder he was so proud.

Chen Fan suddenly realized, "Your wife told you this news?!"

The Cultural Station was in charge of bringing movies to the countryside. Movies were shown in the villages several times a year, depending on the arrangements of the Cultural Station.

However, the Cultural Station was only an executive department because there were too few film projectors. The projection teams were under the unified management of the County Cultural Bureau, and the projectionists were also transferred from the county cinema.

The county cinema had the task of sending movies to the countryside every year. The overall plan was formulated by the County Cultural Bureau, and the specific implementation plan was coordinated and arranged by the Cultural Stations of each commune. Finally, the county cinema arranged for projectionists to bring the machines to the countryside to show movies to the production teams throughout the county.

As everyone knows, the "Eight Great Professions" of the commune were envied by everyone: salesperson, driver, telephone operator, projectionist, health worker, grain worker, broadcaster, and food worker. Each job was an object of competition for many people.

Among them, "stethoscope, steering wheel, butcher's knife, and salesperson" were the four most sought-after professions among the Eight Great Professions.

Although the projectionist was not among the top four, it was still a good job.

However, those who had done it knew that it was a truly hard job.

No matter how big a county was, the projectionist had to ride a bicycle, carrying heavy projection equipment.

This equipment included a small generator, projector, film, and speakers. People with a little less strength simply couldn't ride very far, let alone bump along the rural dirt roads.

Therefore, in the countryside, watching a movie was a very difficult thing.

If the commune had its own cinema or projection team, they could watch it ten or eight times a year. If not, they could only rely on the county cinema, and that was the end of it. It was good if they could watch it two or three times a year.

Unfortunately, Nanhu Commune did not have its own projection team, so Lujiawan could probably see movies about three times a year, once before and after transplanting rice seedlings, once before and after the double抢 (rush harvesting and planting), and once before and after the autumn harvest.

Whether it was two or three times depended on the state of the projectionists of the county cinema projection team. If a projectionist comrade was injured or sick, then one time would have to be canceled. If there were two injuries or illnesses... I dare not think about it.

Having received definite news from An Quan, Chen Fan ran to the door of Jiang Lili's room in a puff of smoke, knocked on the open door, and immediately smiled when she turned around, "I have good news for you."

Jiang Lili got up and walked over, asking curiously, "What good news?"

Chen Fan said, "Brother An just said that the projectionist might come to our team to show a movie in three days."

Jiang Lili, who usually avoided other things as much as possible except for work, immediately lit up, "Show a movie? Really?"

Chen Fan chuckled, "I'll go to the brigade headquarters later to see if there's any news. If there is, there will definitely be a notice on the afternoon broadcast."

Jiang Lili quickly nodded repeatedly, "Okay, okay."

Then she hurried out, "Then I'll go cook."

Chen Fan reached out to stop her, saying with a smile and a cry, "It's not even 9 o'clock yet, why cook so early?"

Jiang Lili stopped, turned around and smiled awkwardly, but the next second she smiled happily again, "Showing a movie."

Chen Fan laughed and said, "The happiest thing for you is eating cake while watching a movie, isn't it?"

Jiang Lili frowned, but then laughed, "No way."

Chen Fan raised his eyebrows and smiled, "Isn't it?"

Jiang Lili's eyes darted around, she lowered her head and smiled, "It's not."

Chen Fan asked curiously, "Then what is it?"

Before Jiang Lili could speak, her face turned slightly red. As a result, she turned around and hopped back to the room, "I won't tell you."

Chen Fan curled his lips and muttered, "Can't even say this?"

While there was still time, he took out his tools and ran to the backyard, knocking and hammering at the nearly finished saddle.

Where sewing was needed, he used a steel needle and fishing line to sew the pieces of leather together. Where fixing was needed, he used a hammer to tighten the rivets one by one.

Soon, a saddle covered with light yellow sheepskin was declared complete.

He put the saddle on the mare's back, checked whether the size was suitable, and then fastened the buckles one by one. Then he put the homemade leather bridle on the mare.

The mare, dressed neatly, appeared brand new in front of him.

The foal jumped and hopped beside him, "I want it too, I want it too."

Chen Fan patted his head, "You're too early, wait a few years."

Then he took two steps back, looked at the heroic and handsome chestnut horse, and nodded with satisfaction, "As expected, just like me, how can a handsome word be enough!"

He led the mare to the front yard, and Jiang Lili came out when she heard the sound. When she saw the mare's appearance, she was immediately attracted, "So beautiful."

She hadn't felt it when it was bare before, but now with the saddle, the tall mare looked just like the warhorses in the movies, killing both men and women.

Even Duo Duo and Qiu Qiu stopped frolicking and ran over with their short legs, looking up expectantly.

Duo Duo, "Why is it wearing clothes?"

Qiu Qiu, "Why don't we have clothes?"

The kestrel also descended from the sky, standing on the roof looking at the mare, "Chirp chirp."

Then he looked at Chen Fan with the two dogs.

Chen Fan pushed the two puppies away with one foot, ignored the kestrel on the roof, led the horse to Jiang Lili, shook his head, and smiled, "Do you want to ride?"

Jiang Lili looked at him, then at the little mare, her eyes full of longing, yet also a little timid. "I don't know how to ride a horse."

Chen Fan smiled and said, "What's there to it? Have you forgotten that a few days ago, when your foot was injured, you rode back on horseback?"

He paused for a moment, then added, "A saddle makes riding much easier than riding bareback. Here, why don't you get on and try it out?"

Jiang Lili looked at him, then at the horse, finally unable to resist the impulse in her heart. She took two steps forward and walked over. "How do I get on?"

Chen Fan said, "Grab the saddle with both hands, but don't grab the back, grab the front. That's right. Now, put your left foot in the stirrup."

Jiang Lili did as he said, grabbing the saddle firmly with both hands and stepping into the stirrup to climb up.

The little mare suddenly moved a couple of steps, and Jiang Lili panicked. Seeing that she was about to fall, Chen Fan supported her arm with one hand and her thigh with the other, pushing her up with force, placing her securely in the saddle.

Then he asked, "How is it?"

Feeling the strange sensation from her thigh just now, Jiang Lili's face flushed red. Hearing Chen Fan's question, she couldn't help but gently bite her lip. "I'm fine."

It was clearly an accident just now, and there was nothing she could say, so she could only pretend that nothing had happened.

But she didn't see Chen Fan winking at the little mare. "Well done."

The little mare immediately raised its head proudly and shook its body, "Neigh…"

Jiang Lili panicked. "Ah…"

Chen Fan immediately tightened the reins with one hand and supported her lower back with the other. "It's okay, it's okay. It might be because it's the first time it's worn a saddle, so it's a little uncomfortable. I'll lead it and take you for a couple of laps."

Jiang Lili gripped the saddle tightly with both hands, her voice trembling slightly. "Re-Really, is it okay?"

Seeing that she was quite frightened, Chen Fan didn't dare to play any more tricks and immediately said, "See, isn't it quiet now? I guarantee it's okay."

Jiang Lili looked at the little mare again and saw that it was standing quietly in place without moving, and she slowly breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing that she was relaxed, Chen Fan smiled and said, "Sit tight, I'll lead the horse and take you for a few steps."

Then, without waiting for her to speak, he led the horse in circles around the yard.

Jiang Lili was still a little nervous at first, grabbing the front of the saddle with both hands, sitting stiffly on the horse's back, looking like she was ready to jump off at any moment.

Chen Fan led the horse slowly forward, looking at her and smiling. "Relax a little, with me here, nothing will happen to you."

Jiang Lili looked at him, forced a smile, and tried to relax, but it didn't seem to work. She couldn't help but timidly say, "W-Why don't I just get down?"

But Chen Fan kept leading the horse. "This is just the beginning, how can you talk about giving up so easily? Listen to me, I guarantee you'll learn to ride very quickly."

Jiang Lili pouted and said, "But, it's not like learning to ride will be useful to me. I don't need to go to another place to work, and I don't have a horse anyway."

Chen Fan smiled and said, "Learning to ride doesn't necessarily have to be useful. The most important thing is, do you want to learn, do you want to ride on a horse and gallop, are you happy riding a horse?"

Jiang Lili's eyes rolled slightly, and she stopped talking.

Chen Fan looked up at her, then at her body, and said, "You relax first. If you don't know how to do it, start by letting go. Let go of your hands first."

Jiang Lili looked at the little mare circling steadily, gently gritted her teeth, and bravely let go of her hands.

Chen Fan gave her a thumbs up. "Now grab the reins, but don't pull."

Then he corrected her movements again. "Don't grab too loosely, and don't grab too tightly, grab it here, that's right."

Then he said, "Now relax your waist."

But Jiang Lili didn't know how to do it. "How do I relax this?"

Chen Fan stopped the horse, turned around and looked at her. "Don't move, I'll just tap you a couple of times."

As soon as Jiang Lili heard this, her body tensed up even more.

But it was useless.

Chen Fan gently patted her lower back with his palm. She suddenly felt weak all over, and she relaxed all at once, slouching in the saddle.

Her body was relaxed, but her face was already so red that it was about to drip blood.

Chen Fan glanced at her, deliberately pretending not to see it. "Yes, that's it."

Then he led the horse to continue walking, and said, "When you learn to ride the horse, then slowly learn to trot, and finally you can gallop."

Jiang Lili tried to divert her attention and asked curiously, "Did you learn to ride like this too?"

Chen Fan shook his head. "That's not it."

He turned to look at Jiang Lili and smiled. "I first learned to stand in a horse stance with Captain Xiao, and then when I rode a horse, I could ride directly on the horse's back, without even needing a saddle."

Jiang Lili's eyes were full of admiration. "I used to see you riding on horseback, and I didn't think it was that difficult. Today, I rode it myself, and even with a saddle, it felt so difficult. You're really amazing."

Chen Fan chuckled. "This is nothing. When you get older, you'll know that I have many more amazing things."

Jiang Lili wrinkled her nose and said coquettishly, "You really aren't humble at all."

Chen Fan laughed. "That depends on who I'm talking to. If it's to other people, I'll definitely be more polite than anyone else. If I'm still polite to you, then I won't even have anyone to tell the truth to."

Hearing these words, Jiang Lili couldn't help but grin, and the smile on her face couldn't be stopped.

After walking another circle, Chen Fan saw that she was sitting quite steadily, so he said, "Now try trotting a little. Just sit tight and don't move."

Hearing this, Jiang Lili became nervous again. "Ah, so fast?"

Chen Fan turned to look at her, raised his right hand and made a patting gesture. Jiang Lili immediately wanted to relax, but her body became more and more stiff.

Seeing this scene, Chen Fan was very helpless. It wasn't that he deliberately wanted to pat her, but if he didn't pat her, Jiang Lili's body wouldn't relax. So, the palm that was originally going to pat the horse's butt, gently patted her lower back.

Then he let go of the reins, took two steps back, and said to her, "Don't worry, it's very docile, and you often brush its fur and feed it, it won't reject you, just sit there with peace of mind."

Jiang Lili had just nodded when the little mare started trotting, and she grabbed the reins tightly again.

The little mare complained as it ran, "Master, can you teach her? She's shaking the reins wrong. This is telling me to run fast."

Chen Fan's mouth twitched slightly, and he shouted loudly from the side, "Relax a little, I mean the reins, don't pull too tight, that's right, and don't grab too tightly with both hands, just hold them lightly, you can put your hands on the horse's body, or put them on your own thighs."

Jiang Lili did as she was told, and soon learned to look like she knew what she was doing.

But hearing the last half of his sentence, she couldn't help but glance at Chen Fan, wanting to ask him, "Were you really not doing that on purpose just now?"