Reborn in 1977

Inside the spacious living room, a sofa and coffee table set occupied a third of the space, unlike the sofas of this era that were usually placed against the wall. This arrangement resembled the villa layouts of later generations, leaving a walkway behind the main sofa.

Along the west wall was a tea table set, separated from the sofa by four bonsai stools. These stools served to slightly block the view and divide the living room into two spaces, one large and one small.

In the sofa area, Chen Fan sat on the long sofa, chatting happily with Master Wang.

The others also took their seats. Those without a spot simply brought over cabinet stools from the wall and gathered around the coffee table for tea and conversation.

Master Wang said to Chen Fan, "Once the rainy season is over, summer will arrive, which is the perfect time to build a house. You can start plastering the exterior walls now. Wait a couple of days, and the construction team will come."

Chen Fan immediately nodded, "Alright, I'll prepare in advance."

Prepare what? Meals, of course!

Everything else was ready, except for the food.

Master Wang suddenly stood up, walked to the window in front, and pointed to the kitchen area, saying, "Are you planning to build the kitchen and dining room here, and then extend the veranda over there?"

Chen Fan followed him and nodded, "Yes."

Master Wang gestured a couple of times, "This area is quite large, almost 60 or 70 square meters. It would be a bit of a waste to only build a kitchen and dining room."

Chen Fan's expression shifted slightly as he looked at him and asked, "What do you suggest then?"

Master Wang replied, "You could do this: keep the kitchen and dining room as they are, but reduce the size a bit, leaving an extra ten or so square meters to build a bathroom. Or, you could keep this area as it is and add a small house next to it, connecting it to the panda enclosure wall."

Chen Fan's eyes darted around, and the corners of his mouth turned up into a smile, "Hey, that's a great idea."

He immediately gave Master Wang a thumbs up, laughing, "You truly are an experienced master, adding the perfect finishing touch."

Shrinking the dining room and kitchen slightly to build an extra bathroom would make showering much more convenient in the winter.

Master Wang smiled and waved his hand, saying, "I only thought of building a northern-style bathroom because you were planning to build a kang. When building the stove, you can add an extra stove opening on the bathroom side specifically for heating water, and then build a large bathtub. The bathtub can be connected to the stove, making winter showers very comfortable.

And we're about to install running water, so once that's done, you can put a drain hole under the bathtub, eliminating the need to carry water. It'll be very convenient."

Chen Fan nodded repeatedly, "That's great, that's great."

… …

Two more days passed without rain, and instead, the sun came out in full force, officially marking the end of this year's rainy season.

The construction team came again, joining forces with the makeshift toilet construction team from the Sixth Team, to complete the remaining work on the house.

It was only then that Chen Fan's new house was truly finished.

Jiang Lili carried a pile of fabric, pushed open the back door of the educated youth compound, and walked towards the new house on the hilltop.

On this small hill, a 1.5-meter-wide cobblestone path had appeared. The path used the excess fermented soil as an adhesive, mixed with cobblestones for the foundation, and then had a layer of cement concrete applied to the surface, but without completely covering the cobblestones, leaving a few millimeters of height protruding to increase friction.

As long as it wasn't subjected to heavy pressure from large equipment, this path should last for many years.

There were also two rows of one-meter-high railings along the sides of the path.

Jiang Lili remembered when Team Leader Yang asked Chen Fan why he needed to install a handrail. Was he afraid of not being able to climb such a small slope?

Chen Fan directly asked him, "What if it snows heavily and freezes into ice? How would you climb it then?"

Everyone was immediately stunned, looking up at the slope and imagining the scene of snowfall.

Without a handrail, even climbing might not be possible!

So, they cut down a dozen or so mao bamboo stalks and made two handrail fences.

In the open space on both sides of the railings, a dozen or so fruit trees were scattered.

These fruit trees were hard-won. At this time of year, agricultural supply stores didn't have saplings for sale. Chen Fan had to ride his horse all over the commune, asking people if they would sell their fruit trees. Relying on "Teacher Chen's" reputation, he managed to find these.

There were peach trees, plum trees, green plum trees, jujube trees, apricot trees… Although the quantity wasn't large, there were quite a few varieties.

In addition, in the woods to the east, there were also some previously grafted orange, grapefruit, apple, and pear trees, but it was unknown how many would survive in the end.

Beneath these fruit trees, the reddish-brown soil was covered by a layer of sod.

Needless to say, this was also Chen Fan's idea.

After laying the sod, the area didn't look like a newly built house at all. It had a much higher sense of domesticity, and Jiang Lili certainly liked it.

Following the path to the top of the slope, on the left was the panda enclosure, covering more than 120 square meters, with the house occupying 20 square meters and the yard over 100 square meters. Three sides were brick walls, and only the side facing the small building had a row of wooden railings installed, so the panda could see the world.

Originally, it would have been easiest to make the railings out of mao bamboo, but Chen Fan was afraid that the panda would chew the bamboo to pieces, so he cut down several miscellaneous trees to gather enough posts for the railings.

Jiang Lili reached through the gaps in the railings, touched the head of the panda that came over, and patted it a couple of times, amusing the panda so that it squinted its eyes. Then, she waved at the two puppies who insisted on living with the panda, teased them for a while, and continued walking forward.

The reason the puppies liked this place was simple: because there were "toys" in the panda enclosure's yard. Chen Fan had made several wooden frames out of miscellaneous wood for the panda to exercise and play with, but he didn't expect the puppies to take a liking to them as well, so they squeezed in to join the fun.

Next to the panda enclosure was the "annex" with walls plastered with fermented soil. After the black fermented soil dried, it returned to the yellowish-brown color of the soil itself, making it look like an earthen-walled house.

From the outside to the inside, there was the bathroom, kitchen, and dining room.

Seeing the bathroom, Jiang Lili couldn't help but feel a little anticipation. Inside was a small bathtub half a meter deep, one meter wide, and two meters long. The surface of the bathtub was covered with shards of various colored pottery. Soaking in it during the winter would definitely be very comfortable.

The roof of the annex was connected to the covered corridor, extending all the way to the main building.

The open space in front of the main building was also paved with a mixture of fermented soil, lime, sand, gravel, and cement, so even in the heaviest rain, you wouldn't step in mud.

Stepping on the hard concrete ground and onto the steps of the covered corridor, she entered through the main door and turned left into the living room.

Jiang Lili placed the cloth she was carrying on the coffee table, looked around, but didn't find Chen Fan.

He wasn't at the tea table behind the bonsai stand either.

She pondered for two seconds, then turned and left the living room, going upstairs to the second floor.

Turning right on the second floor, she found Chen Fan reading a book in the study on the west side.

This study contained 18 bookshelves, each 1.2 meters high and one meter wide, arranged in three rows of six.

The bottom of the bookshelves were cabinets, and the top were shelves for books, with shelves on both the left and right sides.

Most of the shelves were filled with books, but even with over a thousand books, they still weren't enough to fill all the shelves.

At this moment, Chen Fan was standing in front of a bookshelf, leaning over the top, flipping through an English book.

This book was one of the books from those four camphor wood boxes.

Two boxes were filled with ancient books, and the other two were filled with various large modern books, both domestic and foreign. Chen Fan had now taken them all out and placed them on the bookshelf, waiting for a few days when he was free to take them out and air them in the sun.

Anyway, the second floor was not open to the public. Apart from Jiang Lili and the other three coming up to clean, there was no one else, so there was no need to worry about anyone damaging the books.

Chen Fan heard the movement but didn't look up, his eyes still fixed on the book. He said softly, "Did they all go to work?"

Jiang Lili nodded and walked closer, saying, "The team is collectively harvesting grass today. When the double抢 (qiang) season starts in a few days, there won't be as much time to prepare feed for the poultry and livestock."

After a pause, she added, "I brought the cloth you wanted. It's in the living room downstairs."

The educated youth spot didn't raise too many chickens, ducks, and geese, only about 20 chickens in the front yard, and rabbits in the rabbit shed in the backyard. Since the feed was all provided by Team 6 and then deducted from the rabbit money, Chen Fan didn't need to worry about these things.

As for Jiang Lili, it just so happened that it was her turn to "be on duty" to cook today, so Chen Fan grabbed her to help him bring the cloth over.

Chen Fan closed the book, put it back on the shelf, and turned to smile at Jiang Lili. "How are your math and science studies going?"

At the same time, he started walking out.

Jiang Lili followed him a step behind, smiling as she said, "Not bad. I understand the parts you've taught, and I've learned some more ahead."

Chen Fan nodded and glanced back at her. "After the expansion of Lujiawan Village Elementary School, although we will continue to teach the content in the textbooks, our purpose in running the school is not for further education, but to allow more people to learn the professional teaching materials I brought back.

To understand those teaching materials, math and science are the most basic foundations. Of course, if it's humanities, history, geography, and politics are also very important.

If you can master these skills the earliest, when junior high school classes start in two years, I can recommend you to be a junior high school teacher, so you don't have to work in the fields every day."

Recommending her to be a teacher at Lujiawan School was certainly not Chen Fan's real purpose, but he couldn't directly tell her to prepare for the college entrance examination, could he!

However, this village elementary school under expansion could serve as the best excuse.

Jiang Lili pursed her lips and smiled, nodding vigorously, "I will definitely work hard."

She didn't say thank you because she felt she owed too much. A thank you couldn't express anything, so she simply didn't say it, waiting to repay him with actions in the future.

Chen Fan looked back at her and smiled again, quickly walking down the stairs and turning into the living room.

He didn't go to get the cloth immediately, but went to a low cabinet in the corner and pulled out a record from the cabinet below, placing it in the gramophone on the counter. Then, he gently cranked the handle and placed the stylus on the black vinyl record. A melodious song immediately came from the speaker.

"Clouds float in the sea and sky, fish hide in the water, drying fishing nets in the morning sun, the sea breeze blows in our faces…"

Hearing the song, Jiang Lili couldn't take her eyes away, her eyes full of reminiscence. "When I was very young, my family had a gramophone just like this one. When my parents came home from work, they always loved to play some music. My dad would rest in the living room, my mom would be busy cooking in the kitchen, and my sister and I would lie next to the gramophone listening to songs. I remember, the song I heard the most was this one.

Later, it must have been when I was four or five years old, my dad suddenly put away the gramophone and the records, and I never heard the gramophone again. Then my sister would often sing it to me and teach me to sing. Until my dad had an accident, a group of people came to drive us out, and that gramophone was smashed."

Chen Fan sat on the armrest of the sofa, and after a brief silence, smiled at her, "This record is from your house."

Jiang Lili suddenly raised her head, her eyes full of surprise, "Ah?"

Chen Fan shrugged and smiled at her, "I picked up this gramophone from a recycling company and asked someone if they had records for this type of gramophone. I also asked your sister. After listening, she went home and brought me twenty or so records, saying that her family didn't have a gramophone and couldn't listen to them, so she brought them over for you to listen to.

But before, there wasn't a suitable place to put it, and the occasion wasn't right. Now that the house is ready, and there's no one else here…"

Saying this, he spread his hands and looked at Jiang Lili with a smile, "How is it? Do you like this surprise?"

Jiang Lili covered her mouth with both hands, her eyes instantly reddening, and then she took a deep breath and nodded vigorously, "I like it."