Reborn in 1977

After chatting with them in the office for a while, I went to the broadcasting room in the backyard to give souvenirs to Zhang Cuie and Zhang Xiuyue. Of course, the things for the two of them were slightly different.

The one for Zhang Cuie was more valuable, after all, she was my first and only apprentice, so it was different.

After leaving the brigade headquarters, Chen Fan didn't go to the stable to get a horse, but instead went to Grandpa Lu's house.

Grandpa Lu still lived in his small shack. The mud plastered on the walls looked newer in some places, probably recently patched.

That's how thatched huts are, the walls are thin and not very sturdy, especially old houses that have been lived in for a long time. You have to plaster the walls and repair the roof every year, and there are hardly any peaceful days.

Years later, these kinds of houses are usually used as temporary shelters for duck herders, and no one would use them as a home.

In fact, in the entire Lujiawan, only Grandpa Lu's house was this kind of shack. The worst of the other families lived in earthen-walled houses.

Chen Fan walked to the door of the house, the door was wide open, the stove was cold, and the charcoal stove Chen Fan had given him last year was also placed aside unused.

He twitched his ears and turned to walk towards the back of the house.

When he walked to the back of the house, he saw Grandpa Lu slowly standing on a ladder, carefully stuffing a small bundle of straw into the leaks in the roof.

Chen Fan walked forward with his hands in his pockets, looked up and said, "Grandpa Lu, why are you still repairing this broken house? Why not just pack your luggage and come to my place. Hey, I'm not bragging, but if you go to my place, someone will be serving you all day long. Someone will add clothes when you're cold, someone will cook when you're hungry, and you don't even have to work.

In case you can't stay idle, well, there's a stable behind my house with two big spotted pigs, they look so fat, they can be slaughtered and eaten in a few years... ah no, I mean there are also two horses, two sheep, a flock of chickens and three giant pandas, you can take care of the livestock.

If that's not enough, I plan to open up two more rows of vegetable plots behind the house in the spring,

Oh, you don't know, our village's performance in the college entrance examination this year was not bad, good heavens, others are already thinking about this, the educated youths who couldn't be called before, it is said that 16 of them have been arranged all at once, filling up the educated youth center.

The livestock and vegetable plots that I worked so hard to raise and open in the educated youth center (Jiang Lili, Yang Ju, Huang Ying, Liu Dan expressed ???) all have to be given up, and I can only open up new land.

Oh, I said old man, slow down..."

He watched Grandpa Lu slowly climb down, quickly stepped forward to hold the ladder, and breathed a sigh of relief when he reached the ground.

Grandpa Lu clapped his hands, looked up at the straw roof he had laid, nodded in satisfaction, then turned to look at Chen Fan and said with a chuckle, "I'm not going."

Chen Fan pursed his lips, as expected, it was as decisive and straightforward as always.

He carried the ladder and leaned it against the back wall. The eaves were a bit wider here, and many farm tools were hung on the wall, which could barely provide shelter from the wind and rain. Of course, that's for light rain, heavy wind and rain would be no different from being in the open air.

While placing the ladder, he kept talking, "Okay, if you don't want to go, you don't want to go, why are you so stubborn."

After placing the ladder, he clapped his hands and turned to look at Grandpa Lu, "Then how about I build a small brick house for you next to it?"

Grandpa Lu waved his hand, tidied up the straw under the eaves, and then walked forward with his hands behind his back, "No need, my house is still pretty good, it doesn't leak wind or rain. In the old days, many families in the village lived in this kind of house."

Chen Fan quickly took two steps to keep up with him, grabbed a handful of snow to wash his hands, "Old man, what you're saying is just arguing. What was the old days? At least before the founding of the country, right? What were the conditions then? What are the conditions now?

The team's 12 water level observation points have all been built into brick houses. If you count the slope below the embankment, they are two-story buildings. As a result, you still live in a thatched shed, isn't that a laughing stock.

Trying your best to live the best life is human nature. You can't say that you have the conditions and still deliberately live a hard life, that's not right, there's no reason for that, is there?"

Grandpa Lu turned his head and glanced at him, "Heh, you just want to say I'm being pretentious."

Chen Fan grinned and smiled, "Pretentious doesn't count, at most it's called stubborn."

Grandpa Lu rolled his eyes, not wanting to pay attention to him.

Chen Fan suddenly rolled his eyes, and quickly took two steps forward, whispering, "Then tell me secretly, are all your treasures buried under this house, so you can't leave?"

Grandpa Lu suddenly stopped, turned around and pointed at him, and after two or three seconds, he said, "You can try digging, maybe you'll find it."

Chen Fan looked at him a few times, then curled his lips, "Digging is too tiring, I won't do such a stupid thing."

The two walked to the front of the house, and without any warning, he bent down and picked up a rooster that was foraging for food, and smiled, "Xiaoming, I'm going to eat you for lunch today."

Grandpa Lu washed his hands at the faucet in the corner, without raising his head, he said, "Xiaoming was already eaten by you half a month ago, this is just Xiaohong, you brought it two months ago, it's still just a chick."

Chen Fan looked at the little rooster's feathers, "Why do you look so much like Xiaoming?"

Little rooster, "Cluck cluck cluck..."

Chen Fan walked into the house, first took a large bowl, then picked up a kitchen knife, turned around and returned to the door, and immediately, with a swift hand, "Don't cluck, I can't understand you anyway."

Then he scalded it with hot water and plucked its feathers in one go.

At the same time, he didn't forget to chat, "To be honest, your things aren't worth much money, they don't attract me anymore."

He turned to look at Grandpa Lu, who had pulled a chair and was sitting inside the doorway, and smiled, "Do you know how much a work point at the brigade headquarters is worth this year?"

Grandpa Lu slowly rolled a cigarette on his leg, shook his head and said, "My work points are in the team, how much the work points at the brigade headquarters are worth has nothing to do with me."

As mentioned earlier, what is now being implemented is distribution to the group, that is, the team is the accounting unit.

Therefore, the work points of the team and the brigade are different, and even between teams, there are some differences.

It's just that before Chen Fan stirred things up, the production situation of the entire Lujiawan brigade was similar.

The average amount of land per capita was similar, the yield per mu was similar, the total agricultural output was similar, and the sideline business was about equal to nothing, so the value of work points between the teams was not much different.

This year is different. In addition to agriculture, the sideline business is booming, and as income increases, the gap will inevitably widen.

Of course, as far as the current situation in Lujiawan is concerned, the gap is limited no matter how big it is.

But the brigade headquarters is different.

In addition to the property turned over by each team, all sideline companies are registered under the name of the brigade headquarters, and because the profit distribution has been done in the previous links, the profits obtained do not need to be distributed to the teams.

Then, after deducting various costs, expenses, and reserved funds, and then turning over the task funds to the superiors, the remaining distributable profit is very considerable.

Chen Fan quickly plucked the feathers, turned to look at Grandpa Lu, and smiled, "You are really desireless, you don't even care about this."

He lowered his head and said, "This year, the work points at the brigade headquarters are almost 3 yuan per point."

When Fourth Master Lu heard this, he was stunned for a moment. After two or three seconds, he finally reacted and quickly asked, "Let's make it clear, is it 3 yuan per work unit, or 3 yuan per work point?"

The value difference between these is tenfold, so we must clarify this!

Chen Fan didn't even lift his head, and said with a smile, "You heard right, it's 3 yuan per work point. If it's per work unit, then it's 30 yuan, which is higher than a junior worker's monthly salary."

Fourth Master Lu couldn't help but gape, "Is that side business you're doing really that profitable?"

Last year, a work unit in the brigade was only worth 65 cents, which meant that a work point was only worth 6.5 fen, equivalent to half a catty of rice. But this year, it has suddenly increased by 40 or 50 times?

Isn't that a bit too exaggerated?

Chen Fan quickly dealt with the chicken, and then started processing the chicken giblets. He picked up a stick and threaded the chicken intestines, while saying, "Actually, there's nothing strange about it. In the entire price system, the lowest are grains and vegetables. In the past, Lu Jiawan only relied on what the land produced to live. Although there was no problem with having enough to eat, money was out of the question."

As he spoke, he turned to look at Fourth Master Lu, his smile gradually fading, and he said softly, "The breeding farm, cooked food processing, and cooked food stores, these side businesses seem to be closely related to agriculture, but the income gap is actually very large.

Take chicken as an example. An adult chicken raised for half a year, just fed some bran every day, can be sold for two and a half yuan. Made into roasted chicken or braised chicken, it can be sold for 5 yuan. This is equivalent to doubling the price with the effort of making a meal.

This is still because we can't directly open a restaurant. Otherwise, if we train a few chefs, chopping up a two-and-a-half yuan chicken and stir-frying it, we could sell it for at least 8 or 9 yuan. If we add more side dishes, divide it into two or three plates, or make it into a pot of stewed chicken, then we could sell it for 12 to 15 yuan."

In a short while, he finished processing the chicken giblets, stuffed them into the chicken's belly, and scooped half a basin of clean water to wash it clean. After pouring away the dirty water, Chen Fan carried the basin inside and continued,

"Look, from raising a chicken to eating it, the chick is only worth a few cents, but it can be worth up to a dozen yuan when it's eaten. And our farmers can only earn the initial two yuan. So, how does the high work point value of the brigade come about? It comes about like this!"

He took out a cutting board, placed the chicken on it, and chopped it with a knife, "That's why Mr. Li wants to eliminate the exploiting class and turn the profits of all links into public ownership. Now that the side businesses are all in the hands of the production team, the profits naturally become the production team's, and the more money they earn, the more they serve the members."

Chop, chop, chop, chop...

Soon a chicken was turned into small pieces.

He found a few potatoes from a bag in the corner, washed them, and chopped them into pieces. Soon, a pot of stewed chicken with potatoes was placed on the charcoal stove. Then, he washed the pot, lit the stove, and cooked half a catty of rice.

After finishing all this, Chen Fan clapped his hands, "Okay, it'll be ready to eat after simmering for half an hour."

Fourth Master Lu was still sitting at the door smoking his pipe. He pulled a chair and sat at the other end of the door frame, grinning, "Fourth Master, if you had supported the tenant farmers in raising chickens back then, and then opened a roasted chicken shop in Yunhu, you might have earned more than collecting rent."

Hearing this, Fourth Master Lu couldn't help but roll his eyes, "Get out."

You little brat, you really know how to hit where it hurts.

Although the storm had passed, he still didn't want to mention the past.

However, after a two-second silence, Fourth Master Lu exhaled a long breath, shook his head, and said, "It's different. As the old saying goes, 'Vast wealth doesn't count if it has fur.' A chicken plague would wipe out all your hard work, not to mention the possibility of infecting people.

Also, back then, there was a saying that 'rivers have riverbeds, mountains have mountain paths.' All industries were controlled by 'guilds.' It wasn't like you could do whatever business you wanted.

Even a small stall on the dock had to pay protection money to the local thugs. Those people were all skinning people alive. The larger ones had to pay respects to the local industry leaders. It seems that the industry leader of the restaurant business back then was the former boss of Wangjiang Tower?

Anyway, it was very troublesome. Even if you could successfully open a business, there were all kinds of restrictions and tributes to pay to all parties. It's not like now, where you can just submit an application and go do it."

He raised his head to look at Chen Fan and smiled, "And compared to the big landlords, the Lu family's five or six thousand mu of paddy fields weren't really that much.

At most, we could say a few words in the Gufeng County Grain Guild. Yunhu City was controlled by big grain merchants from the provincial capital, even from the capital, and local grain merchants in the city. Don't even mention opening a roasted chicken shop there, it would be good enough if we could sell our grain for a few more cents."

Chen Fan blinked, thinking to himself, so the Zhang Wenliang and the others said that opening a store was extremely difficult, but compared to the old society, it was already much better?

After chatting for a few words, Fourth Master Lu continued to examine Chen Fan's "homework."

He himself had learned a variety of things, so he also taught a variety of things, from music, chess, calligraphy, and painting to opera and dance, from Go and Chinese chess to mahjong and dominoes. Chen Fan was able to learn many things from Fourth Master Lu that he had never encountered before he transmigrated.

The two of them first played two games of blind chess, and then talked about two cases of traditional Chinese medicine. When the house was filled with the aroma of stewed chicken, Chen Fan was about to get the bowls and chopsticks to prepare for eating, but Fourth Master Lu stopped him.

"Xiao Fan, you learn things too quickly. My meager skills are almost exhausted by you."

As he spoke, he supported himself with one hand on the back of the chair, laboriously propping himself up to stand, and slowly walked into the room, "There's only one last thing left. After teaching you this, I'll have nothing left to teach."

Chen Fan blinked and quickly followed behind him, "What is it?"

Fourth Master Lu didn't say anything, walked to the desk in the room, opened the drawer, and took out a few books that looked very old from inside, and placed them on the table.

Speaking of which, the old man's books were all quite old, but they were well-maintained and of collector's item quality.

Chen Fan stepped forward, picked up a book, flipped through it, and looked up at Fourth Master Lu, "'Antique Guide'?"

What does this mean? Let me learn how to identify treasures from a book?

Isn't that a joke!

In the antique business, learning any amount of book knowledge is useless. If you put two identical ornaments in front of you, can you tell which one is real and which one is fake just by reading a few books?

That's nonsense. You must go through thousands upon thousands of "hands," turning knowledge into experience, before you can walk into the treasure appraisal field.

And even if you're sure, you can only say it's your own shallow opinion, and you can't easily make a judgment.

Otherwise, there will be dozens or hundreds of times more fakes than real goods to teach you a lesson!

Fourth Master Lu sat down, leaning on the chair, and nodded with a smile, "In prosperous times, antiques are valued; in troubled times, gold is valued. Now that the storm has passed, as long as the direction doesn't change, I estimate that we will soon usher in a golden age of antique trading.

In the past few years, many antiques have been scattered among the people, most of which are in the hands of people who don't know their value. If one day they appear in front of you, but you don't recognize them, wouldn't that be a pity?"