Reborn in 1977

Chapter 359 Acting Separately (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

“We walk on the road, holding the red flag high towards the sun. Mr. Li leads the revolutionary队伍, cutting through thorns and brambles and heading forward. Advance! Advance! The revolutionary torrent cannot be stopped. Advance! Advance! Towards the direction of victory. ...”

Zhang Wenliang strode back to Lujiawan, singing.

He spent a week in the county town. The first three days were busy running business, and the next three or four days were busy renting a house. At the same time, he brought people from Lujiawan who delivered ducks and geese, and delivered goods to each unit one by one. He also attached Chen Fan's temporary writings, "On 19 Ways to Cook Duck" and "Geese, Geese, Geese, This Way Tastes Better". All the canteen chefs of the units regarded them as treasures, and the logistics departments also paid happily, which was considered a small wave of recovery.

Now Lujiawan does not have self-made speedboats. Delivery can only be done by driving a carriage to the county. The 40-kilometer journey takes about 6 am in the early morning. With the time to cross the river, it can be delivered around 10 am.

It's just a bit expensive for horseshoes. For this reason, Secretary Yang specially asked people to pull a few horses to the town to make new horseshoes.

As for Chen Fan's proposal to deliver goods by bus in the town, Secretary Yang and the others carefully considered it and did not adopt it.

It would be fine if they only transported it once or twice, but they have to deliver goods to the county every day, and the quantity is not small, 300 ducks and 54 geese at a time. After the cooked food workshop starts in a few days, there will be more goods to be delivered. How can they be embarrassed to trouble others every day with so many live poultry?

Fortunately, the team has its own carriage, putting the ducks into live poultry cages, and then putting the cages on the carriage.

One cage can squeeze 10 ducks or 8 geese, and a car can easily hold twenty or thirty cages. Except for the first day when 4 carriages need to be dispatched, two carriages will be able to load them all in the future.

They decided to drive the car over by themselves, bring a few rice balls on the road, and a bundle of grass to feed the horses. They can leave in the morning and return around 3 pm, which is cheaper than taking a car.

After 3 days of familiarity, the transportation team has become familiar with the route and can deliver the goods by themselves. Zhang Wenliang and the others took the car back to discuss the work arrangements for the next stage.

This is not, just returned to the entrance of the brigade department, Zhang Wenliang happily sang.

Attracting many members of the 5th team to come and watch.

"San Huzi, you're back?"

"You're in such a good mood, you even started singing. You must have sold a lot."

"Hundreds of them a day, you can sell them all in a month or two. You guys are good."

"San Huzi, keep it up and try to take down the prefectural committee as well."

"Team Leader Ye, have the people in the county's workshop been decided? What do you think of my family's Da Ya?"

"Old Ye, my family's Er Feng is your wife's third aunt's niece-in-law. You have to think of her first if there's anything good."

Ye Shubao and Zhang Wenliang couldn't help but have stiff faces, poking their heads forward with a giggle, not even daring to lift their heads.

Hearing the singing and noise outside, Secretary Yang, Team Leader Zhang, Xiao LieWen, and Yang Xingxiu immediately greeted them.

Secretary Yang first glanced at the crowd, his cheerful face slightly stunned, "Hey, Xiao Chen didn't come back with you?"

Zhang Wenliang's good mood suddenly deteriorated, and he walked inside while saying unhappily, "You only care about Xiao Chen. We worked hard outside for a week. Even if we don't have merit, we still have hard work. As a result, we didn't even get a word of comfort when we came back. It's heartbreaking!"

A cup of steaming boiled water was immediately handed to him.

Yang Xingxiu looked at him with a smile but not a smile, "Heartbreaking, right? Have a cup of boiled water to warm your heart."

Zhang Wenliang shivered suddenly, stretched out his hands and carefully took the water cup, "Slow down, slow down, don't burn me."

Ye Shubao glanced at this活宝, and then smiled at Secretary Yang, Team Leader Zhang, and Xiao LieWen, "Xiao Chen has been busy with us in the county for a week, and only went to the prefectural committee correspondence university to register today, so he didn't come back with us."

"Oh, he didn't come back?"

Secretary Yang was immediately stunned, turned his head to look at Team Leader Zhang and Xiao LieWen, who were also full of surprise, and then looked at Ye Shubao, "He didn't come back, how will the subsequent work be done?"

At this time, he found that one person was missing again, "An Quan? He didn't come back either?"

Five people went out, but now only 3 are standing in front of him. Chen Fan went to the prefectural committee, where did An Quan go?

Ye Shubao laughed and said, "No, An Quan went to the waterway company."

After a pause, he shook the travel bag in his hand, "I said, should we let us go in and sit down and talk? We haven't even entered the door since we came back, and we haven't even had a sip of water."

Seeing Ye Shubao's old-fashioned appearance, Secretary Yang knew that he must have a bottom line in his heart, so he turned sideways and smiled, "Let's go, let's go, go inside and talk."

A group of people entered the office, and Zhang Wenliang put the scalding boiled water on the table. Yang Xingxiu brought the other two water cups over and gently placed them in front of Ye Shubao and Zhang Juemin, and smiled, "This is a pot of tea that was boiled last night. It's just right to drink now."

Ye Shubao was not polite either, picked up the tea mug and took a big gulp, feeling so comfortable that he kept sighing.

Zhang Juemin also put down his luggage, said thank you, and drank water with the tea mug.

Zhang Wenliang looked at the boiled water in front of him, silently thinking about when he offended her? He has no impression at all.

Then he saw a tea mug being placed in front of him. When he looked up, it was actually Yang Xingxiu?

Yang Xingxiu glared, "Drink or not?"

Zhang Wenliang quickly nodded, "Drink, I drink."

Ye Shubao looked at Zhang Wenliang's appearance, took the cigarette handed over by Secretary Yang, and couldn't help but shook his head with a smile.

After lighting the cigarette and exhaling a puff of smoke, he began to eloquently tell about his experience in the county this time.

Although he had talked on the phone before, in order to save on phone bills, Ye Shubao didn't dare to say much, and Secretary Yang didn't dare to ask much. It wasn't until now that he understood everything from beginning to end, and he often echoed.

"Ah, so, Manager Zhao of the County Water Transport Company is not bad, but he is too principled and unwilling to be accommodating? Hiss, this is not a problem, it can be understood."

It would be even more understandable if his face wasn't so tangled when he said this.

"The general manager of the construction company is so easy to talk to. It seems that Master Qiu and Master Ma have said a lot of good things. Did you give Master Qiu and Master Ma two ducks? You did, right? That's good."

"Oh, it turns out that Xiao Chen has already finished writing the novel about construction workers. In this way, he also contributed to taking down the construction company."

At this time, Secretary Yang's face was filled with pride and glory, as if he had written the novel.

"All 7 units in the health system have placed orders? Hehe, needless to say, it must be Xiao Chen's credit. Only he has such a big face."

In the blink of an eye, pride turned into arrogance.

I don't know what Xiao Chen's face has to do with him.

Ye Shubao said, and Secretary Yang replied, singing and echoing, and finally finished talking about everything in the past few days.

After speaking, Ye Shubao took a sip of water, exhaled a long breath, and a bit of fatigue finally appeared on his face. He said in a deep voice, "I now know why even Bai Lang Lake, with such good conditions, doesn't develop side businesses very much.

This side business is really not that easy to do. If it weren't for Xiao Chen in front, with the health system and the construction company giving him face, the material bureau also giving An Quan face, and other units taking care of San Huzi and their friendship, if we just rushed over like this, who would pay attention to us?"

When Secretary Yang heard this, the smile on his face gradually disappeared. He smoked a cigarette and said, "That's why the girls in our rural areas want to marry into the city. Even if we don't worry about food or clothing, we only don't worry about food and clothing. If we want to live a good life, we still have to be city people. They rely on units and hold iron rice bowls. We always ask them for help. When will it be their turn to ask us for help?"

As soon as the voice fell, the room was silent.

After a few seconds, Xiao LieWen raised his head and smiled, "It's not about asking or not asking. If they want to eat meat, they still have to rely on our production team to raise poultry and livestock before they can have meat to eat. Besides, we don't rely on anyone or ask for help. Self-reliance, farming and breeding are so glorious. Aren't the city people still supported by us?"

Team Leader Zhang immediately grinned and smiled, "Hey, I like to hear this. Even if he is a big official, he still eats the grain grown by our farmers. Without us, he would eat shit."

Secretary Yang also laughed heartily, "That's the idea. When it comes down to it, people need to eat, so they can't do without us farmers."

The room immediately filled with laughter.

But despite the smiles, everyone still had a trace of gloom in their hearts, wondering, when will we farmers be able to stand on our own two feet?

After the laughter subsided, Secretary Yang tapped his pipe, knocked out the ashes, and looked at Ye Shubao, "Little Chen went to the prefectural committee to sign up, so what about Xiao An? What did he go to the water transport company for?"

Ye Shubao immediately said, "He went to buy an outboard motor. He's best at dealing with people and units. We feel relieved letting him handle it."

Secretary Yang nodded understandingly, "Right, right, outboard motor, that's indeed a big deal. Now, sending goods to the county town, two horse-drawn carts a day are enough. If the cooked food workshop starts operating in the future, and more goods are sent, we will need to increase the number of carts. If Little Chen opens up the market in the prefectural committee, we can't rely on horse-drawn carts to deliver goods to the prefectural committee. It's still more convenient to use fast boats."

At this time, Team Leader Zhang thought for a while and said, "Old Yang, our team has a lot of fishing boats, but they are all 'small boats'. The load is only slightly more than a flatbed cart. If we use the existing boats to install outboard motors, I'm afraid it's not cost-effective."

The so-called small boat is the smallest type of fishing boat, only slightly larger than a kidney boat. Except for the bow and stern, there are only two and a half square meters of small fish hold in the middle. No matter how much you pile it up, the load won't increase much.

Moreover, the outboard motor can only be installed at the stern. If the goods are piled too high, the person driving the boat will not be able to see the front. Therefore, in terms of load, it is not much more than a horse-drawn cart, at most half to one times the difference.

Secretary Yang turned to look at him, "That is indeed a problem. What are your thoughts?"

Team Leader Zhang smiled, "What else can I think? If the boat is small, we'll build a bigger boat."

Xiao Liewen nodded aside, "Building a boat is no problem. It's not like building a big steamer. Any old carpenter can do it. There are at least a dozen people in our team who can build boats. If we call them all back and start working together, wouldn't it be done by building a large wooden boat?"

Team Leader Zhang continued his words, "Although there are more projects this year, Little Chen used up a batch to build houses, and another batch was used to build small water towers, but if we put together the wood from each small team, it should be no problem to get enough wood for a large boat."

The felled logs cannot be used directly. They must go through multiple processes such as drying and insect removal to obtain usable wood.

Therefore, each small team in Lujiawan will fell a certain amount of wood every year, process it, and store it for future use.

Especially families planning to build new houses will start preparing wood about two years in advance, so the team has never lacked wood.

It's just that the team used more wood this year and has already consumed a lot. Otherwise, Team Leader Zhang wouldn't even have mentioned this, and would directly requisition wood from the entire team. Not to mention one large wooden boat, three or five would be no problem!

… …

While they were discussing enthusiastically, Chen Fan got out of the car and stood on the street in Yunhu City.

He was wearing the shirt he bought in Yunhu last time, the trousers he bought in Yunhu last time, and the leather shoes he bought in Yunhu last time.

Fortunately, the backpack on his back was made by himself, but it was also the one he carried when he came to Yunhu last time.

He took out a cigarette and lighter, lit one, and put it in his mouth.

This was the first time he smoked when he was alone. The faint smoke slowly drifted upwards and was blown away by the wind. Chen Fan looked at the dissipating smoke and still couldn't figure out a problem.

Where is the correspondence school of Jiangnan University located?

After finishing a cigarette, he still couldn't figure it out, so he decided to ask someone.

He threw the cigarette butt into the ashtray on the trash can next to him, looked around, and walked towards the place with the most people.

When he arrived, he realized that this was actually a watermelon stall?

Not far ahead, a small truck was parked on the side of the road, and several people stood in a row, both men and women, each three or four meters apart, extending to a watermelon stall that was almost ten meters long.

One person picked up a large watermelon from the truck and passed it down like a basketball. The next person also caught the watermelon in his hand like catching a basketball, then held the watermelon with both hands and turned around to pass the ball again… no, pass the watermelon.

After passing through the hands of five people, the last girl steadily placed the watermelon on the stall, turned around, and waited for the next one.

Around the watermelon stall, there were fifty or sixty people.

Some people weighed the melons, paid the money, and put them in their bags or baskets to carry away. Some bought one or two melons, and the generous ones actually used snakeskin bags to pack them, buying seven or eight at a time, tying them tightly to the back seats of their bicycles and pulling them away.

Others directly bought sliced watermelon and ate it on the spot.

The watermelon seller was quick and efficient, cutting the watermelon and collecting money almost without rest.

People who bought watermelons did not eat or spit randomly, but walked to a large iron cabinet next to them. This iron cabinet was a trash can specifically for watermelons, with holes all around and a high platform in the middle.

Many people stood in a circle around the cabinet. The dripping watermelon juice and the spit-out watermelon seeds all fell into the holes around the iron cabinet. Several pieces of watermelon were placed on the platform in the middle for the watermelon buyers to continue eating.

(Watermelon seed and rind recycling bin)

Chen Fan watched for a while and understood the process of buying and eating watermelons. Then he stepped forward and asked, "Master, how are these melons sold?"

The person cutting the watermelon didn't even turn his head, "8 cents a pound, 1 dime a mouthful."

A mouthful is a slice that has been cut, about a pound with the rind and flesh. People with big mouths can indeed finish it in one bite.

Chen Fan immediately took out a dime and bought a slice, and also walked to the watermelon bucket and stood to eat. With a big mouthful down, he slurped from right to left, swallowed it in two or three bites, spat out a mouthful of watermelon seeds, and then slurped from left to right, and a slice of watermelon was gone.

He raised his hand and wiped his mouth, feeling that this watermelon was not as delicious as the later ones.

This later one is not after the new millennium, but in the 80s and 90s. The watermelons at that time were really big, sweet, and sandy. You could clearly feel the particles bouncing around in your mouth, and they were refreshing and sweet, and you never got tired of eating them.

The watermelons in the new century are sweet, but unfortunately, they always feel like they don't have much watermelon flavor.

And the watermelons now are not sweet enough and not sandy enough.

But it's not bad, at least sweeter than other fruits, and the watermelon flavor is very strong, and it's also very refreshing.

After savoring it for a while, Chen Fan bought another slice and ate it.

Then he wiped his mouth clean, washed his hands in a basin of water next to him with several watermelons soaking in it, rubbed the water dry, walked to the watermelon seller, took out a cigarette and handed it over, and asked, "Master, I want to ask you something."

The watermelon seller glanced at him, paused cutting the watermelon, took the cigarette and looked at it, and found that it was a Peony brand. He then clipped the cigarette behind his ear and said with a smile, "What's the matter?"

Chen Fan asked, "Jiangnan University has a correspondence school in our Yunhu. Do you know where it is?"

The watermelon seller was stunned, "Oh, Jiangnan University has a correspondence school in Yunhu? I don't know."

The corner of Chen Fan's mouth twitched slightly. Well, he wasted a cigarette.

He raised his hand and waved, "Oh, that's okay, thank you."

The watermelon seller smiled, feeling that it was a bit unkind to get a cigarette for nothing, so he pointed in a direction and said with a smile, "Go ahead and take the bus, get off at the 'Education Office' stop, and ask there. They will definitely know."

Chen Fan's eyes lit up. That's right, you definitely have to ask the Education Office about this. How can you just ask anyone and they will know?

After thanking the watermelon seller, Chen Fan shook his backpack and walked forward.

Soon he arrived at the bus stop, stood under the bus stop sign to look at the stops. Before he saw the Education Office, he saw another place name.

After thinking for two seconds, he happened to see a bus slowly driving over in front of him, and Chen Fan got on the bus without hesitation.

Well, it's not noon yet, so find a place to eat first, and it's not too late to sign up in the afternoon.