Reborn in 1977

Chapter 460: Coming Again?

The fact that all 23 students from Lujiawan were admitted to key universities was an unprecedented and joyous event, naturally warranting a grand celebration.

One of the parents walked up to Chen Fan, his face filled with excitement, and said, "Teacher Chen, thanks to you, my child was able to get into university. I don't know how to express my gratitude. I was wondering if you'd be available to come to my house for a simple meal tomorrow?"

Before Chen Fan could speak, the other parents swarmed around him, all wanting to host a teacher appreciation banquet.

In addition to these parents, the leaders of each small team also helped to invite him.

Yang Chuanfu, not wanting to be left out, squeezed in front of Chen Fan and smiled at him, "Although you are also from Team 6, not an outsider, this teacher appreciation banquet is still essential, or else outsiders will say we don't understand etiquette."

Chen Fan suddenly felt overwhelmed, and said with a wry smile, "It's not that I'm being polite, nor am I disrespecting everyone."

He gestured in a circle, "Look, there are 23 people here. Even if I eat at two houses a day, it would take 12 days. I really don't have that much time."

As he spoke, he pulled Secretary Yang over, "The secretary can testify that I've been working at the machinery factory these past few days, and I haven't even been able to take care of the work at the health center. Also, I haven't managed the production team's sideline businesses for a long time. With so many things piled up, I really don't have time!"

Although Secretary Yang didn't know what Chen Fan was busy with, he couldn't possibly undermine him at this time, so he said with a hearty laugh, "Well, it's a great joy that the children in the family have been admitted to university. Everyone wants to hold a teacher appreciation banquet and invite Teacher Chen to dinner. This feeling is understandable.

But you see, Teacher Chen doesn't just hold a position in our team. His current full-time job is at the health center. Ah, this health work is very busy, it's a matter of life and death, right?

In addition, he also works part-time as a consultant in the machinery factory, helping the machinery factory with production, which is also contributing to the country. Not to mention that our production team's sideline businesses cannot do without him."

Secretary Yang counted Chen Fan's jobs one by one, almost making himself believe it, "Teacher Chen is indeed handling a myriad of affairs every day, so busy!"

As for what he was specifically busy with, he decided to ask Xiao Chen later so that he could be more specific next time something like this happened, making it more convincing.

Just as he was racking his brains thinking about where else Chen Fan might be busy, Yang Chuanfu said, "Even if he's busy, he still needs to eat, right? Even if inviting him to each house individually won't work, how about we invite him jointly, with one visit from each small team? Would that work?"

Chen Fan's eyes flickered, and he turned to look at Secretary Yang, whispering, "How about, regardless of whether each family hosts their own celebration, the brigade specifically hosts an admission banquet, and we also invite those educated youth from other places to come and celebrate together?"

Secretary Yang nodded in agreement, "That might work."

Anyway, this kind of banquet has already been held twice, and it wouldn't hurt to hold it again to deepen the relationship.

Then, with one hand on his hip and the other raised high, he said, "Quiet everyone, listen to me. The team doesn't care how you celebrate, as long as you don't do it extravagantly. This admission banquet and teacher appreciation banquet will be hosted by the brigade headquarters, and everyone can have fun together. If you want to thank Teacher Chen, you can do it at that time, okay?"

When the parents heard this, they felt that as long as they could express their feelings, it would be fine, so they nodded in agreement.

Then they discussed the time, and finally Secretary Yang made the decision to set it for the day after tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be spent preparing and inviting those educated youth from other places to come. The banquet will be held the day after tomorrow, and they'll eat early so as not to delay continuing to work.

After the crowd dispersed, the leaders of the brigade headquarters also began to assign tasks, busying themselves for the banquet the day after tomorrow.

Originally, Zhang Wenliang had successfully proposed marriage today, but he didn't even get to eat a hot meal before he had to get busy again.

He was also concerned about safety, and was thinking of buying a ticket home as soon as he received the admission notice, but Secretary Yang had assigned him the task of contacting those educated youth from other places, so he could only leave two days later.

Chen Fan sat in the brigade headquarters office, quietly smoking a cigarette, watching them leave one by one, before slowly opening Secretary Yang's drawer, unlocking the telephone box, and dialing the education department's number.

Education Department Office.

Jiang Lili and Jiang Tiantian were holding their admission notices, smiling from ear to ear, when a female comrade in her twenties walked to the door and knocked, smiling, "Sister Tiantian, there's a phone call for you."

If it had been half a month ago, not many people in the unit would have spoken to them in this way. Even though the Jiang sisters had been arranged to come in by Deputy Director Zuo, everyone just kept a respectful distance and remained polite.

On New Year's Day, Chen Fan's article was published simultaneously in Yunhu Daily and Jiangnan Daily, letting everyone know that there were other details in the case of the former Deputy Director Jiang that year. Immediately afterwards, the Light Industry Department issued an announcement that, as early as two days before the article was published, the department had already issued a notice requiring all light industry units in the region to thoroughly conduct self-examinations and overturn cases for comrades who had been treated unfairly.

At that time, the cotton mill was the first to overturn the case of Deputy Director Jiang and his wife.

From that time on, everyone knew that the Jiang family had completely turned over.

As a result, everyone's attitude towards the Jiang sisters naturally changed greatly. Although it wasn't about currying favor, getting closer was still possible.

Some people even had designs on the two sisters, wanting to go to the Jiang family to propose marriage. People in the education department all knew that the younger sister should have caught the eye of Writer Chen, and maybe the two were dating. Otherwise, why would he go to so much trouble to help their family?

But wasn't there also an older sister?!

Unfortunately, no matter who went to propose marriage, Jiang Tiantian firmly refused, saying that she was focusing on her studies and would not consider family matters before getting into university.

As for after going to university?

Then she would consider it even less!

Jiang Tiantian came back to her senses and quickly got up and smiled, "Thank you, did they say who was calling?"

The person smiled meaningfully, glanced at Jiang Lili, who was craning her neck, "Teacher Chen is calling."

When she saw Jiang Lili stand up with shining eyes, unable to wait to go out, she became even more certain of the rumors in the unit.

Looking at this situation, how could she dare say they weren't dating?

Before the case was overturned, this younger sister had concealed it quite well, either working with her head down every day or studying with her head down. Even when Teacher Chen came, she consciously kept her distance, making it almost impossible for outsiders to see anything. Some people even thought that Teacher Chen might have taken a fancy to the older sister?

After all, the younger sister had stayed in the countryside for nearly four years, often exposed to the wind and sun, working in the fields, and hadn't eaten anything good. Her hands were obviously a little rough.

This was still because they hadn't seen what Jiang Lili looked like a year ago. At that time, she really wasn't much different from a country girl.

Regardless of the era, there was a big difference between children who grew up in the countryside and those who grew up in the city, whether in temperament or appearance. Children from the countryside were easily distinguishable, especially in this era. They were naturally simple, but their complexion was relatively poor, and their clothes were far inferior to those of children in the city.

As for the children in the city, apart from the clothes and temperament that carried typical characteristics of the era, they were almost no different from the young people of later generations. They also loved beauty and paid attention to fashion. The boys combed their hair to the side, and the girls tied their hair up. Those from good families would often go to department stores to buy clothes.

The clothes in department stores are much more expensive than those made at home. A nice piece of clothing can easily cost more than ten yuan, while buying fabric and paying for tailoring would only cost five or six yuan.

So the difference is really significant.

That day, on New Year's Eve, Jiang Tiantian went to find her sister, and the two standing together presented a stark contrast.

Although Jiang Tiantian hadn't had it easy in recent years, she still earned a salary of over thirty yuan, ate rationed grain, and her monthly allocations of sugar, meat, oil, and other non-staple foods hadn't decreased. Although it still wasn't enough to fully satisfy her daily physical needs, it was much better than only getting to eat meat a few times a year in the countryside.

Moreover, she worked in the supply and marketing cooperative's store. Although she often had to lift and carry things, she was sheltered from the wind and rain, and her complexion was much better than Jiang Lili's. Her skin was also fair and delicate, befitting her age.

It was only because Jiang Lili had been nourished by Chen Fan for nearly a year, eating a lot of rich food, that she had become slightly fuller and her complexion had improved a lot.

Now, apart from the fact that it had been too short a time and her hands still had some calluses that hadn't had time to disappear, and her habitual shyness and reluctance to talk to people, she was almost indistinguishable from Jiang Tiantian in other respects.

Otherwise, if you put the two of them from a year ago together, anyone would think that Teacher Chen liked the older sister, not the younger one.

Now that their case had been overturned, well, they weren't even pretending anymore. It was clear that Teacher Chen was calling for the older sister, but the younger sister ran out first.

The young comrade sighed regretfully to himself, thinking, why wasn't I the one who went to Luxiaowan for the Down to the Countryside Movement back then?

The two sisters walked to the office with the telephone. Jiang Tiantian picked up the phone and held it to her sister's ear.

Jiang Lili was immediately startled and instinctively looked to the side, the meaning was obvious: there were so many outsiders present!

But Jiang Tiantian pressed the phone to her ear, winking at her and repeating, "You answer it."

Only then did Jiang Lili realize that her family was okay now, and she could openly answer Xiao Fan's call.

She smiled at her sister, and with trembling hands, she held the receiver, instinctively turning her body away from the others and whispering, "Hello, is this Xiao Fan?"

Chen Fan sat imposingly in Secretary Yang's chair. He finally heard a voice in the receiver and immediately smiled, "It's me."

Then he cleared his throat, "The post office delivered letters today, and Xiaoying and the others' acceptance letters have arrived. Have you received yours?"

Hearing this, Jiang Lili's eyes immediately curved into two crescent moons, "My sister and I both received them. We received them this morning as well."

She glanced at her sister who was hugging her and continued, "We were both admitted as our first choice. My sister is in the Chinese Language program at Fudan University, and I'm in the Textile Engineering program at East China Institute of Textile Science and Technology."

After a pause, she whispered, "Today, only the two of us received acceptance letters at the Education Office. Sister Zuo said that among the other candidates from the factory, two didn't get in, and three did, but they weren't in the first batch. Only we are in the first batch."

Chen Fan leaned back in the chair, took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth, then took out a lighter, lit it, and exhaled a puff of smoke, smiling, "Congratulations to you."

Jiang Lili pursed her lips and smiled, saying, "We still have to thank you. Sister Zuo said that originally, after our files were submitted, both schools sent family investigation letters, requesting investigation of family backgrounds. Even though Sister Zuo personally called them to explain, they still put our files aside and didn't directly admit us.

It was after the article you wrote was published in the newspaper that Sister Zuo promptly reported the results of the cotton mill's investigation to them, and they took our files back and put them on the admission list."

She said with some relief, "I heard that a candidate sought connections and submitted his file to Fudan. If my sister hadn't been admitted, that spot would have been his. Fortunately, the investigation results came out in time, and the admissions officer returned that person's file. It was really close."

Chen Fan narrowed his eyes. Someone really tried to take advantage of him?

But since it didn't succeed, and he didn't know who it was, he could only let it go.

Then he held the phone and smiled, "This time, it's all thanks to Sister Zuo's help. You have to treat her to a meal later to thank her properly."

Jiang Tiantian, who had been "eavesdropping" while hugging her sister's shoulders, immediately leaned closer to the microphone and whispered, "Of course we will thank her, but Sister Zuo is only helping because of your influence."

The implication was that it probably wouldn't be enough if just the two of them came forward to thank her.

Chen Fan said without thinking, "They're holding a graduation banquet the day after tomorrow, and I'm going to attend. The day after that, I'll come to the Prefectural Committee again and we'll treat Sister Zuo to a meal together."

Jiang Tiantian's face blossomed into a smile, "Okay, I'll arrange it."

Chen Fan, "Okay, also invite Sister Zhou. She also helped a lot, otherwise it wouldn't have been so smooth."

He had heard a lot of similar things these days.

Some educated youth were prevented from entering the examination hall because they were reported in letters or were deliberately obstructed. Or they got into the examination hall, but there was no news afterwards. They didn't know how many points they had scored, and they weren't even on the list for physical examination. It was all a complete mystery.

If he hadn't been so strongly aware of the crisis and planned for the worst, arranging for the Jiang sisters to go to the Education Office in advance, with someone helping to cover them, no one could guarantee that such a thing wouldn't happen to them.

After Jiang Tiantian readily agreed, she handed the microphone back to her sister.

Jiang Lili covered the microphone, wanting to say something heartfelt to Chen Fan, but she was too embarrassed, so she started talking about others, "Xiao Fan, how did Xiaoying and the others do on the exam?"

Chen Fan laughed heartily, "They're holding a graduation banquet, of course they did very well."

After a pause, he explained in detail, "Including Xiao'e, the four of them, like you, were admitted as their first choice. The other students in Luxiaowan are about the same. Only two people were transferred, but they're also good universities, so they didn't lose out.

Even those educated youth from other places, I heard that more than a dozen of them were admitted in the first batch. This time, Nanhugongshe has really made a splash!"

Hearing this, Jiang Lili was also very happy for them. In any case, she hadn't been bullied by the villagers in Luxiaowan in the past few years. On the contrary, she had received a lot of help, and she would remember all of this in her heart.

However, Jiang Tiantian, who was next to her, suddenly thought of something after hearing Chen Fan's words, and took the microphone in her hand again, covering her mouth and whispering, "Xiao Fan, I heard something, let me tell you about it."

Chen Fan was slightly taken aback, was it that mysterious? He immediately asked, "What is it?"

Jiang Tiantian, "I heard from Sister Zuo that there will be another batch of educated youth going down to the countryside this year. Originally, they were all going to be arranged nearby, but I heard that some people want to go to Luxiaowan to settle down. I don't know if it will have any impact on you?"

Come to Luxiaowan to settle down?

Chen Fan was immediately stunned. It's already '78, and they're still coming?

He didn't know that, not to mention '78, the last batch of educated youth going down to the countryside in the whole country was already in '79.