Reborn in 1977

Chapter 319: A Bountiful Haul (Please vote for me!)

The rest was simple. Old Yang had people carry out the four large wooden crates, each a meter long, half a meter wide, and half a meter high.

By this time, the boxing of the books outside was almost complete.

Brand new corrugated cardboard boxes held the worthless "waste paper," looking as good as new books in their packaging.

Chen Fan watched from the side, feeling a bit of scalp tingling. He wondered if the "waste paper money" he paid would even cover the cost of these cardboard boxes.

Old Yang saw Chen Fan's expression and assumed he was worried about the boxes being too heavy.

Although the boxes were indeed quite heavy.

He whispered to Chen Fan, "Don't worry, these cardboard boxes are ‘consumables,’ the weight will be deducted during weighing."

Chen Fan chuckled awkwardly. They could even "deduct" that?

Faced with this situation, he couldn't say much and could only silently accept it.

It wasn't good to pack too many books in a cardboard box, so the two thousand books filled 20 cardboard boxes, each containing a different number of books, but with roughly the same weight.

Then a worker came over with a notebook to report, "Section Chief Yang, after deducting the weight of the boxes, the total is 937 pounds. Mainly because there are many large volumes inside, with each book weighing one or two pounds, taking up a lot of weight."

Chen Fan was slightly stunned, not expecting Old Yang to actually be a Section Chief.

He looked at the four large wooden crates again, thinking, it seems like these haven't been weighed yet, right?

Then he heard Old Yang say, "I saw that a lot of the paper inside was rotten. Report a number for the loss later, say it's a loss of 500 pounds."

"Don't."

Chen Fan was so startled that he shuddered, grabbing Old Yang's arm and saying in a barely audible voice, "Yang… Section Chief, that's not good, is it?"

Old Yang smiled at him nonchalantly, "Why call me Section Chief? Just calling me Master Yang is fine."

After a pause, he added, "This isn't giving you any special treatment. We must be realistic and seek truth from facts. Loss is loss, and it can't be sold for money, right?"

Then he pointed to the person in front, "Record it as I said."

That person's expression didn't change, and he calmly wrote down "437 pounds of waste paper out of stock" in the ledger.

Anyway, old books were recorded as waste paper when they were brought in, so of course, they could only be counted as waste paper when they were taken out. Deduct the loss, and the books would balance.

Then, without waiting for Chen Fan to speak, Old Yang asked, "Your motorcycle can't carry over 900 pounds of stuff. Have you prepared a truck?"

Chen Fan shook his head, "I didn't know I could find so much when I came…"

Before he could finish speaking, Old Yang smiled, "So you don't have one, huh?"

Then he turned around and shouted, "Hey, Little Sun, go find Old Fang from the transportation section and ask him to arrange a truck to come over. Tell him to find a reliable driver, and hurry up."

A young man in his twenties immediately responded and ran out after putting down his things.

Old Yang turned to look at Chen Fan, grinning, "Our unit's transportation section has two Jiefang trucks, five light trucks, and dozens of flatbed trucks. It's no big deal to find you a truck to take it back."

Chen Fan could only clasp his hands tightly to express his gratitude, "Thank you, thank you."

Old Yang laughed and then pointed ahead, "This is the largest waste product warehouse in the entire Yunhu area. Do you want to take another look? If you see anything you like, we can load it onto the truck and take it away together."

Chen Fan's eyes lit up, "Then… I won't be polite?!"

Old Yang smiled, "That's the spirit, don't be polite. Come on, I'll take you to see."

Chen Fan winked at Jiang Tiantian, who was standing next to him, and then walked side by side with Old Yang, while Jiang Tiantian followed two steps behind him.

Soon they arrived at the electrical appliance area. Chen Fan looked at the piles of circuit boards, electronic components, and appliance housings, and asked curiously, "Are these all useless?"

Old Yang looked at the pile of scrap and curled his lips, "I don't know about that. Anyway, that's how they are when they're sent over from below."

After a pause, he added, "The things here mainly come from two sources. One is the old appliances collected by the recycling stations. These are basically sent to the repair shops to be checked and sentenced to death.

The other is the electrical appliance repair shops in various districts and counties. They send all the completely scrapped appliances and parts to the waste recycling station. When they get here, they are first crushed and washed, and then sent to relevant units as raw materials."

Chen Fan nodded in understanding, then curiously walked into the pile of junk, his eyes scanning like radar. Soon, he discovered his first target: a large horn!

Not the kind of loudspeaker horn, but the horn of a phonograph.

This kind of horn is generally used for "hand-cranked phonographs," which don't need electricity, just like a hand-cranked telephone. You can play records by cranking it. Unfortunately, even the body of the machine was gone, leaving only a large purple copper horn with a wide mouth like a flower.

(Hand-cranked phonograph)

Chen Fan grabbed the horn and flicked it gently with his finger.

It was truly amazing. Only a copper part was left, but the sound quality of the horn was not affected at all.

This thing was a must-have!

It would be nice to take it back as a decoration.

He first handed the horn to Jiang Tiantian to hold, and then he continued to hunt for treasure inside. Soon, his eyes lit up. Hey, isn't this the base of the phonograph?

How did the head and body separate?!

He took out the base and, after a little inspection, found that many parts inside were already damaged.

But it didn't matter. The technology of this era was not much different from that of the Republic of China, and many parts could be used interchangeably. He should be able to find them if he went to an electronic component store.

In the next few minutes, he picked and chose from a pile of circuit boards and various parts and successfully put together various parts of the phonograph. He also put together a set of spares, with four magnetic heads alone.

That was great, saving him a few more dollars.

After browsing the electronics area, the car that Old Yang had called arrived and began loading goods.

Chen Fan glanced at the other areas with regret, thinking that he could only wait until next time to come over for the other things.

As a result, Old Yang waved his hand, "It's okay, it's okay, I'll keep an eye on things here for you. You go and pick out yours."

He saw that Chen Fan had picked out a set of disassembled old phonographs and a small bag of spare parts, and he knew that this was someone with real skills.

With both a background and real skills, Old Yang felt that he had not entrusted the batch of books to the wrong person, and he was even happier. The more choice Chen Fan had, the better.

The director only told him to open up the old books to Chen Fan, but he opened up the entire several thousand square meter warehouse. Pick, just pick!

Seeing that Old Yang was so polite, Chen Fan also intended to browse everything since he came, and plunged into the mechanical area again.

But the things here were not as good as in the electronics area. At least he could pick out a few usable things over there, but here, all kinds of mechanical parts were seriously damaged, and they were not small in size.

Because the small ones were pulled to another production line and cast into square iron blocks!

However, this was, after all, the largest waste product warehouse in the entire prefecture, even if it was a mountain of junk, Chen Fan's discerning eyes could pick out a few treasures from it.

Single-cylinder piston, gears, flywheel, mechanical throttle, bearings, fuel tank, water tank, integrated oil-water tank…

Soon, Chen Fan happily collected the parts for two single-cylinder diesel engines, with extras as usual.

(Yao Si Ling diesel engine, which was already eliminated at that time)

Single-cylinder diesel engines are a magical thing. Where is the magic?

As long as they are not damaged by humans, they will never break!

They will never break, really never break. Some machines from the 1960s, when turned out after the 1980s, can still run with a little oil.

Chen Fan hasn't thought about what to use these two diesel engines for yet, but it doesn't matter, he'll carry them back first!

After taking them back and modifying them, it would be good to make them into water pumps or generators.

Jiang Tiantian and Old Yang next to him watched Chen Fan like a mouse, running back and forth in piles of junk, occasionally holding out parts that they didn't understand.

Old Yang was full of doubts. Technicians and engineers said that the things were useless, could they really find treasures?

After a long time, Chen Fan finally finished browsing the entire warehouse, then dusted off his hands in embarrassment, "Master Yang, that's all, please ask someone to calculate how much it costs."

Old Yang waved his hand, "Move it over to weigh."

Soon, the young man just now ran over again, "Report to the section chief, after deducting rust and other losses, the scrap iron is 58 pounds, including the waste paper just now, the total is 21 yuan, 7 mao and 7 fen."

As for those electronic components, he didn't mention them at all.

Hearing the young man's words, Chen Fan's hand that was patting the dust suddenly stopped, and he blinked blankly.

58 pounds? Not 158 pounds, or 258 pounds?

Old Yang glanced at the notebook, nodded without changing his expression, "Well, go issue the invoice."

Then he smiled at Chen Fan, "You have to go to the storefront outside, pay the money and get the receipt before you can take it out of the warehouse."

Chen Fan nodded immediately, "Okay, I'll go pay the money now."

Old Yang simply took him outside, "I'll take you there."

Chen Fan was a little curious, "Is there also a retail department here?"

Old Yang laughed and said, "It's all about serving the people. We are also responding to the call. To facilitate the masses, we also opened a retail department here. In fact, not many people come here to sell waste products, so we simply put the outgoing accountant there, which is also a way to find them something to do."

Chen Fan chuckled dryly twice, "That's pretty good."

Before long, they arrived at the retail department. Before Old Yang could speak, a seven- or eight-year-old boy ran in hurriedly with a cloth bag, "Auntie, Auntie, I found some scrap iron again, quickly exchange it for money for me."

A girl sitting behind the desk first nodded and smiled at Old Yang, then picked up the boy and spanked his bottom, "I told you not to go to the factory, but you went in there to run around, have you forgotten the last time you stepped on a nail?"

She kept spanking him while saying that, with a rhythmic 'pat, pat, pat'.

The boy didn't cry either, stretching his neck and shouting, "Only there is scrap iron to pick up."

Chen Fan's mouth twitched slightly. Running to the factory to pick up scrap iron, this is a talent!

Perhaps because there was an outsider present, his aunt suddenly glared, "Dare to be stubborn?"

Again, 'pat, pat' twice.

Old Yang waved his hand aside, "Alright, alright, it's okay to hit a child a couple of times, are you really going to swell his bottom up?"

Then he smiled at the boy, "How about this, the scrap iron is calculated by the catty, let your aunt give you 30 cents, okay?"

The boy pouted, "Okay."

His aunt couldn't help but laugh in anger when she saw this, "You still think it's too little, you're not allowed to go to the factory to pick up iron in the future."

Saying that, she took out 30 cents from the drawer and gave it to him, "If you buy candy, you have to share it with your sister."

The child grabbed the money and ran, turning his head at the door and shouting, "If you don't let me go to the factory, I'll go to the warehouse to pick up waste paper!"

After saying that, he ran away in a puff of smoke.

Chen Fan couldn't help but give a thumbs up in his heart, as expected, flexible and adaptable!

But thinking that he was also going to the warehouse to "pick up waste paper", it seemed that everyone had something in common?!

Only then did Old Yang hand over the form opened by the weigher. After that, Chen Fan took out the money to pay, 21 yuan, 7 jiao, and 7 fen, not a penny less!

The accountant collected the money and issued the receipt. The things Chen Fan had found today could be smoothly taken out of the warehouse.

Chen Fan first asked Old Yang to call Zhang Wenliang and the others over, and then said to them, "Brother Sanhu, please work hard and follow the car to take these things back to the Sanitation Department's guest house."

Then he looked at the rider master and Zhang Juemin, "You also go back together, I still have something to do, I'll go back later myself."

Zhang Wenliang looked at him in surprise, "What else do you have to do?"

Chen Fan winked at him, pointed in the direction of the warehouse door, and said in a low voice, "It's almost dark, a girl came to help find books, shouldn't I treat her to a meal and take her back?"

Zhang Wenliang glanced at Jiang Tiantian, "She is Jiang Lili's sister?"

Chen Fan nodded, "I know what you want to ask, why she would go to school to listen to lectures, and also come to help, right?"

Zhang Wenliang and Zhang Juemin nodded together, without saying anything, just wanting to see how he would quibble.

Chen Fan said with a natural expression, "Why would she go to school to listen to lectures? It's because there are two old people in her family, and she is busy with work and eats quickly, often choking, so she wants to learn some first aid knowledge, just in case."

Zhang Juemin thought for a while and nodded lightly, "This excuse is acceptable."

Filial piety is the foundation of virtue, no one can say anything about this.

Then he asked again, "Then why would she come here?"

Zhang Wenliang put on an expression as if he had already seen through everything, "Don't say it's to repay you for lecturing, that reason is too fake, I would even believe it if you said she invited you to dinner."

Chen Fan immediately widened his eyes, looking at him with a shocked expression, "You guessed it all!"

Zhang Wenliang was stunned, blinked his eyes, "No, she really wants to invite you to dinner?"

Chen Fan said plausibly, "That's what she said, but as a man, how can I eat a girl's treat? I just thought that she helped me find books for an afternoon, so I thought I would agree to her to eat first, and then I would take the initiative to pay the bill, so that it would both reassure her and not lose face for a man, don't you think that's the right thing to do?!"

Zhang Wenliang nodded lightly, "That's true."

Zhang Juemin pulled him, Zhang Wenliang immediately reacted, glared and said, "What a mess, I'm saying why would she come here?"

Zhang Juemin next to him also nodded repeatedly, "There's no need to come to this place just for dinner!"

Chen Fan glared, "Keep your voice down, doesn't the girl need face?"

Then he said softly, "This time I came to the prefectural committee, I had already thought about it, it would be best to buy a batch of old books to take back to build a library for the production team, and also save more books for myself."

Zhang Juemin and Zhang Wenliang nodded together. They had heard him say this yesterday. Of course, they unconditionally supported the matter of considering the production team.

Chen Fan continued, "But I'm not familiar with this place, before I asked the people from the Sanitation Department, they just told me to go to Xinhua Bookstore,…"

Zhang Wenliang suddenly understood, "No wonder you went to Xinhua Bookstore yesterday."

Zhang Juemin nodded first, then became a little strange, "But didn't you buy it yesterday?"

Chen Fan sighed, "What did I buy? What's the use of just a set of learning materials."

He turned and pointed to the small truck that had been loaded, smiling triumphantly, "Did you see that, there are more than two thousand books on it, half are mine, half are for the production team's library, how about it, awesome or not?!"

"Awesome!" "Awesome!"

The two nodded together, paused for two seconds, and Zhang Wenliang asked again in confusion, "But what does this have to do with Jiang Lili's sister?"

Chen Fan, "Why doesn't it matter, she told me about this place, and she helped find a lot of books inside, she came here today specifically to help find books, do you think it matters!"

Hearing this, the two stopped talking.

Strictly speaking, Jiang Lili's sister was not helping Chen Fan, but helping the production team, what could they say?

Speechless, they could only roll away in a dejected manner.

Before getting in the car, Zhang Juemin pulled Chen Fan aside and said in a low voice, "We won't meet her, please say thank you to her for us, also, we will pay for dinner tonight, it's a public expense."

Chen Fan nodded immediately, "Don't worry, I will definitely accompany her well, and not lose face for Lujiawan!"

Zhang Juemin and Zhang Wenliang nodded solemnly before turning and getting into their respective cars.

Watching the two cars leave one after the other, Chen Fan washed his hands aside, came back and called Jiang Tiantian, and went to say goodbye to the director with Old Yang.

Coming out of the waste product company, Jiang Tiantian asked in confusion until they got on the Yangtze River levee, "Why didn't you let them wait for you to leave together."

Chen Fan pointed to the dim sky above his head and said to her, "Have you ever walked the night road before?"

Jiang Tiantian immediately understood what he meant, pursed her lips and smiled, and said, "Although I haven't walked the night road, but if you go down a section, it's the street, there are buses to go back, nothing will happen."

Chen Fan waved his hand, stepped forward, and chuckled softly, "Come on, it's not summer now, and there are people cooling off by the roadside, even if it's on the street, there are not many people at night. Don't forget, there are good people like me in the world, and there are bad people like the one in your factory. No matter what time, we should still be careful, pay more attention to safety, it's always better than regretting it later."

Jiang Tiantian looked at his back, a little dazed, but quickly reacted, quickly followed, and said with a smile, "Yesterday I said I would treat you to dinner, you didn't have time, so I'll treat you to dinner now, how about it?"

Chen Fan looked back at her and laughed, "I've been waiting for you to say that. Oh, you don't know, I'm tired of eating in the cafeteria every day, alas, I heard that there is a Wangjiang Restaurant in Yunhu, do you know where it is?"

Jiang Tiantian looked at him in surprise, "You also know Wangjiang Restaurant?"

After a pause, she said again, "Wangjiang Restaurant was an old brand in the past, but later it broke down customs and changed its name to Gongnong Restaurant, the location is still in the original place."

Then she looked at Chen Fan and smiled, "Then I'll treat you to dinner there."

Chen Fan turned to look at her and laughed, "Looking at your gritted teeth, I know it must be very expensive there."

Jiang Tiantian was a little embarrassed, "Where is it."

Chen Fan, "Don't worry, just now our militia company commander and health worker have already said that this meal is a public expense, it is to thank you for helping the production team find books."

Jiang Tiantian was full of surprise, "Ah? Really? How did you tell them?"

Chen Fan, "That's what I told them,…"

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