Reborn in 1977

As thick smoke billowed from the brick kilns, Chen Fan took off his straw hat and used it as a fan. He walked along the path that the commune members had spontaneously cleared, heading towards the main road.

Seeing Chen Fan leave, everyone couldn't help but applaud and cheer.

Hmm, it felt a bit like being sent off with fanfare.

Why did it feel a little like being universally disliked?

At that moment, Secretary Yang, Team Leader Zhang, and a few others walked towards him.

Secretary Yang saw Chen Fan, then glanced at the two brick kilns billowing smoke, and said loudly, "How is it?"

Chen Fan grinned and said, "Anyway, the preparations are in place. This time, we even used coal briquettes, which are much better than when I used charcoal to fire bricks myself."

The coal briquettes were residue hauled from the coal factory. Mixed with some soil, they were even better than charcoal, and the temperature produced was more suitable for firing bricks.

Upon hearing this, Secretary Yang's mouth immediately widened into a grin, "So, it's a success?"

Chen Fan shook his head, "Before opening the kiln, no one can say for sure."

He walked to Secretary Yang's side, took the cigarette that An Quan offered, lit it with a lighter, and turned to look at the brick kiln, saying, "Once the fire is lit, the rest is up to fate. If we're lucky, we can get 90% good bricks, which would be great. If we're unlucky, keeping half would be good."

Xiao Liewen looked at him speechlessly, "Can't you say something more encouraging?"

Chen Fan chuckled, "Even the most encouraging words are useless. Think about it, even the brick factories in the commune sometimes only have a yield of about 80%. This earthen brick kiln of ours, what high percentage of good bricks are you expecting?!"

Ye Shubao waved his hand, "It's okay, anyway, it's all soil from barren land, it's not worth much. If they're ruined, they're ruined. We can just haul the ruined bricks out to repair the road. This main road is full of potholes, we don't have to worry about not having anywhere to fill them!"

Secretary Yang and Team Leader Zhang nodded slightly, "That's the logic."

Anyway, it's free stuff, we can just fire a few more kilns.

Secretary Yang gestured, "Let's go, let's go back and talk."

With that, he turned and walked towards the path in the fields.

Chen Fan had originally planned to go home, but at this time, he could only follow them towards the brigade headquarters.

He first waved his hand, telling Jiang Lili and the others to go back, then quickly followed behind An Quan.

The kiln was located at the entrance of Lujiawan Village, so it was convenient to get to the 5th team from here, especially by taking the path through the fields, which was only a ten-minute walk.

Looking at the already yellowing rice ears in the fields, a gentle breeze blew, and the rice ears rose and fell, creating layers of rice waves.

Chen Fan threw the cigarette butt on the ground and extinguished it, asking, "How did you all get together?"

I didn't see them when the brick kiln was being built. They only appeared when the fire was lit, and they came together. Could something be up?

An Quan nodded and pointed to the rice fields beside him, saying, "We all went to the commune for a meeting just now. The 'Double Rush' is about to start, and the commune gathered the brigade leaders of several production teams to hold a 'Double Rush' meeting, requiring us to do a good job in the 'Double Rush' and absolutely not make any mistakes."

Ye Shubao continued his words, "It's all old news. Actually, they don't need to hold a meeting. Who would dare to be careless at this time? Let's not talk about official hats or money bags, at the very least, we have to take the grain in our bowls seriously, otherwise, we'll go hungry, and it's ourselves, the people of our own brigade, who will suffer."

At this time, Secretary Yang laughed and said, "But this trip wasn't in vain. The commune will support us with a batch of agricultural tools and fertilizers, which will be very useful."

Chen Fan noticed that Secretary Yang said agricultural tools and not agricultural machinery, which meant things like sickles, threshing machines, and winnowing fans, which weren't related to machinery but were very useful for the 'Double Rush'.

The 'Double Rush' sounds simple, which is rushing to harvest the early rice and rush to plant the late rice, but there is a lot of work involved.

Or rather, the 'Double Rush' is just a big item, which includes many small items: rushing to harvest, rushing to plow, rushing to plant, rushing to harvest the grain, rushing to weed, rushing to irrigate, rushing to thresh, rushing to dry in the sun, rushing to use the drying ground, rushing to seize the farming season…

So much farm work has to be completed in just 20 days. (The 'Double Rush' varies from place to place, some may take 40 days, and some may take about half a month, depending on what crops are planted, and how much 'advanced' agricultural machinery there is)

This period of time is the most difficult time of the year, enough to make everyone in the village, men, women, old and young, shed a layer of skin.

If the commune can give a little support, it would be a great thing for the production team.

Chen Fan followed them back to the brigade headquarters, listening to them arrange the work.

Who is responsible for the preparations, starting from the inspection of agricultural tools, the sickles must be sharpened, the carrying poles must be reinforced, the bamboo baskets must be repaired, the threshing ground must be leveled,…

He listened and recorded, gradually gaining a concrete understanding of the 'Double Rush'.

But when the 'Double Rush' officially started, he realized that his understanding of the 'Double Rush' was still insufficient.

…

A few more days passed, and seeing that most of the rice in the rice fields had turned golden yellow, with only a few scattered spots of green, the 'Double Rush' in Nanhua Commune, or rather, the entire Yunhu area, officially began.

That morning, Chen Fan was still sleeping when he faintly heard movement outside.

He immediately opened his eyes, got up, and put on a undershirt before walking outside.

Although it was already the hot summer, the countryside in the early morning still had a bit of coolness. As soon as he opened the door, he felt a cool breeze blowing towards him.

Looking outside, the sky was dotted with stars, but the girls' dormitory was already lit up, and there was also a fire in the kitchen.

Chen Fan immediately walked over, and Jiang Lili happened to walk out of the room.

She didn't seem to have woken up yet, her figure was a little wobbly, and she didn't even wear shoes, just barefoot, and had rolled her pants legs up to her knees.

Huang Ying and Liu Dan followed out, dressed exactly like Jiang Lili, with their pants legs rolled up and their sleeves rolled up.

With the three of them here, Yang Ju must be busy in the kitchen.

To ask why they didn't have short sleeves and shorts? It's not that short sleeves and shorts didn't exist in this era, but short sleeves and shorts could only be worn in the summer, and if you didn't have enough clothes, it definitely wasn't cost-effective.

Making them into long sleeves and long pants, you could roll them up in the summer, and put them down when it got cold, so you could wear them from spring to summer, and then to autumn, so many people in the countryside didn't have short-sleeved and short pants clothes at that time.

Seeing Chen Fan, the three of them were immediately stunned.

Huang Ying took a step forward and said in surprise, "Teacher Chen, why are you up too?"

Chen Fan looked at them and asked in confusion, "What time is it? Why are you up so early?"

Liu Dan couldn't help but yawn, "We set the alarm for 4 o'clock."

4 o'clock?

Chen Fan widened his eyes, about to ask them why they were getting up so early.

At this time, Jiang Lili said softly, "Get up at 4 o'clock, and by the time we finish breakfast and go to the fields, it will be 4:30. In a while, it will be dawn, and we can work a little longer before the sun comes out."

Huang Ying continued, "When the sun comes out, it's very hot, and it's even more uncomfortable at that time, so it's better to get up early and work."

Liu Dan weakly said, "Teacher Chen, no one can ask for leave during the 'Double Rush', so we can't cook for you these few days."

Chen Fan quickly waved his hand, "It's okay, it's okay, I'll cook for you during this time."

Then he frowned slightly, "But it's only 4 o'clock, that's too early."

Huang Ying smiled and said, "It's not early, it's even earlier when transplanting rice seedlings. At that time, we have to get up at 2:30 to pull seedlings, this is nothing."

Chen Fan was speechless. Only at this time did he have the most direct feeling about the 'Double Rush'.

After a pause of two seconds, he walked towards the kitchen, "You don't have to worry about the house these few days, I'll take care of the logistics."