Reborn in 1977

Chapter 531: You Guys Are Also Chasing Stars?

Chen Fan's original plan was to spend the morning of March 18th exploring Beijing for the last half-day, hoping to find some treasures at the legendary Liulichang, and then buy some old medicine from Tongrentang to stock up.

He planned to go to the airport at noon and fly directly back to Jiangnan.

Now, with this sudden situation, it was clear that he couldn't go back.

That evening, he packed his luggage and moved to the Ministry of Machinery Industry's guest house with Director Yang and the others.

Heaven have mercy, he had never seen people in such a hurry.

They had just put down their luggage and hadn't even had time to eat a meal or take a bath to relax when the experts who were still working hard at the unit swarmed over.

Surrounded by more than a dozen people, how could he have the nerve to eat?

Helpless, he had to ask Director Yang to buy a few large meat buns, gulp them down with tea, and then answer their questions.

Experts are experts, and the questions they asked were much more profound than those of the engineers at the machinery factory.

Fortunately, they were within his grasp, and Chen Fan patiently explained them.

But in general, as long as it was within the scope of the design drawings, he could answer perfectly. Anything more profound, whether he knew it or not, he would say he didn't know.

As a result, by 3 a.m., all the experts had reached the same conclusion.

This kid's level is about the same as theirs, and his shining point is that he can be original and create new ideas.

Chen Fan pretended not to know that they were half seeking knowledge and half testing him, and finally said, "Actually, most of my ideas in automobile design come from the notes left by my father, so rather than saying that these two cars are my designs, it is better to say that they are a summary of my father's life's work."

An old expert with gray hair immediately brightened his eyes, "Where is the notebook?"

Chen Fan smiled slightly, "At my home."

The old expert's eyes were full of hope, "Could it be...?"

In his heart, it was reasonable for Chen Fan to complete the design by gaining inspiration from his father's notebook. Otherwise, wouldn't it make them, the expert team, seem incompetent if a young man could design products that surpassed them?!

Of course, this young man's deep research in mechanics at such a young age showed his extraordinary talent.

Unfortunately, the leader had already informed him that even if he was a genius, it would not be good to win him over.

He is now the deputy director of the Jiangnan Branch of the Writers Association and a nationally renowned young writer. In particular, he had read yesterday's Wenhui Daily, and the little poem directly touched his soul, making him sigh, and the author of this poem actually admired Chen Fan so much.

How can he poach him?!

It's better not to speak.

If he could get his father's notebook, it would also be a great gain. Maybe he could get inspiration from it and design more and better cars and engines. Even if he couldn't catch up with foreign countries, he could further narrow the gap with advanced countries!

Chen Fan coughed twice, "The notebook cannot be given away originally, it is my father's relic and should be kept as a souvenir. However, it can be copied or photographed. After I go back, I will hand it over to Director Yang for processing."

Director Yang, who had been sitting in the corner for most of the night, suddenly shuddered and quickly stood up and said, "Please rest assured, everyone, I will process it as soon as possible after I get the notebook and hand it over to the higher authorities!"

As long as this matter passes through his hands, it will be a solid achievement, and it will definitely be a highlight in his merit book.

A pie in the sky, this nephew is worth it!

For Chen Fan, sending out a few notebooks can not only make a contribution to the country within his capacity, but also prove that he is not that great, so as to dispel the trouble of being "harassed" later, killing two birds with one stone.

In fact, that notebook is not the key. Although the hard work recorded by Chen Fan's father had some merits, it was just that. If it is sent to this expert team, it is estimated that it will only be read once.

After all, he was just a mechanical engineer from a small third-tier factory, and he didn't even have much to do with the automobile industry. How powerful could he be?

The focus is on the private goods that Chen Fan added to it.

As we all know, in engineering notebooks, when there are many words, they are dense, and when there are many pictures, there are large blank spaces. Therefore, before Chen Fan took out the car design drawings, he added a lot of content to those notebooks.

Sometimes there are only one or two sentences, or even one or two words with question marks, and sometimes there are a few simple strokes, but without exception, they all point to key points.

There are many blank pages at the back of the last notebook, which provides a stage for him to "make ideas" on a large scale.

Anyway, when he got the notebooks, it was obvious that no one had opened them for a long time. He also asked Director Yang, these notebooks were Chen Fan's father's private collection, and no outsiders had seen the contents inside.

With his calligraphy skills, imitating the handwriting is no different from the person himself writing it. In addition, he used a pencil, and the handwriting will fade slightly after a little rubbing, as if several years have passed, so there is no risk of exposure.

The expert team got the answer from Chen Fan and stopped asking.

The old expert said with a smile, "Thank you, Comrade Chen, for your patient answers, which have given us a deeper understanding of these two sets of design drawings, especially your ideas on the design of the next generation of automobiles, which have provided us with very good ideas."

After a pause, he looked around, then looked at Chen Fan, and smiled, "I'm sorry for disturbing you tonight. Tomorrow you can have a good rest for a day. The train at 1:50 pm the day after tomorrow will arrive in Changchun at 7:04 am the day after tomorrow. Let's complete the prototype test as soon as possible so as not to delay your time."

Chen Fan stood up and laughed, "No problem, you can arrange it as you see fit."

After all the experts left, Chen Fan let out a long breath, turned to look at Director Yang and the other two, and couldn't help but be a little surprised, "It's already past three o'clock, how can you still be so energetic?"

Shi Tiezhu laughed loudly, "Where is this? When we were engaged in large-scale production in those years, the machines never stopped and neither did we. More than 100 workers in the workshop ate and lived in the factory, fighting continuously for 100 days. That was called boiling with enthusiasm. Tonight's little effort is just barely finding some feeling."

At this time, after the excitement passed, Director Yang yawned several times in a row, but he was still stubborn, "That's right, it was the same when the factory was first built,..."

Chen Fan interrupted him, "Okay, okay, I know you are all great, but if you are not sleepy, I am still sleepy, so go back to your rooms and sleep."

Director Yang was pushed out, still educating him, "You can't do this, you have to exercise more. Your body is the capital of the revolution. With a good body, you can better..."

Chen Fan pushed him into the room, closed the door, and turned to walk to his own room, "Yes, to work overtime better."

...

The next day, March 18th.

Because he successfully completed the task the night before, Chen Fan had a day of "vacation", just in time to carry out the original plan.

Coincidentally, Liulichang is next to Dashilan.

So Chen Fan came to find his masters again.

He called the three old men who were hiding at home drinking tea and took them out for a stroll.

Lin Yuanxiang was very helpless, "We are all people who wield knives and guns. If you want to go to the opera garden, that's fine, but taking us to Liulichang is like winking at a blind man."

Li Shangde glared with one eye, "There are only cripples here, no blind people."

Zhang Xuansong was very indignant, "What's wrong with cripples? I can still read, write, and draw. Can you see it?!"

Chen Fan quickly persuaded them to stop arguing, "You are almost two hundred years old together, so stop arguing."

He coughed, "I heard that if you want to buy writing brushes, ink, paper, inkstones, calligraphy, paintings, and old books, you have to come to Liulichang, but I'm afraid of being cheated, so I can only pull you out to sit in town."

Zhang Xuansong's face changed, and he grinned and smiled, "Then you are overthinking it. The shops on Liulichang Street, one by one, are all state-owned stores, and they won't do anything to deceive people."

Lin Yuanxiang nodded in agreement, "The deception you mentioned was a few years after the founding of the country, when some black-hearted bosses were still around. Those people did nothing good, but after the joint venture, it never happened again.

Especially in that Rongbaozhai, whether it is the paintings of predecessors or the calligraphy of contemporary people, they are all clearly marked. If you like it, you can buy it without even negotiating the price."

Chen Fan raised his eyebrows slightly, "Is that so? Then I'll open my eyes later."

While speaking, Lin Yuanxiang pointed to the front and said, "Look, this is East Liulichang Street, but the nearby people are used to calling it East Liulichang."

Chen Fan's eyes turned slightly, abbreviated as Dongchang?

However, is it so close?

At this time, the roadside has begun to change, selling writing brushes, selling paper, selling books..., there are shops, but not many, and most of them are just small stores, and the people coming in and out are basically tourists from other places.

Local residents are strolling on the street in twos and threes, and some are sitting on the roadside in front of their homes chatting.

It is far from the bustling scene Chen Fan imagined, let alone compared with Dashilan.

(Liulichang Street in the 1970s)

Chen Fan's group naturally became the focus of attention.

It's a bit magical, the three masters are actually celebrities here?

From time to time, old men and old ladies waved their hands to say hello.

"Are you out shopping?"

"Old Lin, Old Zhang, you two are actually walking together today, and you haven't even started fighting. It's rare!"

"Old Li, why are you willing to come out of the 'boudoir' today?"

Li Shangde jumped up and cursed angrily, "Get out, your Lao He family is the boudoir, you are the old woman in the boudoir, serving your ancestors every day."

The person who was scolded was not angry either, "Hey, you are right, I serve my granddaughter every day, isn't that the boudoir."

Li Shangde had no choice but to use his apprentice to top it off, and immediately pointed at Chen Fan and said, "See, my apprentice, also half a son, hey, his children will be my grandchildren in the future, how about it, are you envious?!"

With a crash, Chen Fan was forcibly surrounded by a group of old men and old ladies.

"What a handsome young man, hey, what's your name, are you really Old Li's apprentice?"

Chen Fan smiled dryly, "You can call me Xiao Chen, these three are all my masters."

"Wow, I've only heard of one master taking several apprentices, but today I've seen it, one apprentice worships several masters, you three are good, you can even take apprentices together."

Lin Yuanxiang laughed loudly, "There's no way, the apprentice is too smart, one person can't teach enough, so we can only share it."

Zhang Xuansong, "That's right, I teach him to write, Old Li teaches him to paint, and Old Lin is responsible for teaching him to eat..."

Lin Yuanxiang kicked out a foot, "Get out of here."

Zhang Xuansong quickly jumped away, and a burst of laughter erupted around them.

Seeing that they were going to continue forward, an old man asked, "Where are you going?"

Zhang Xuansong pointed ahead and laughed, "Didn't we just say? I'm teaching writing, and Old Li is teaching painting, so we have to buy some brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones. I'm taking him to see them ahead."

The old man raised his neck, "What's there to see? Let's go, I'll take you to Rongbaozhai."

Saying that, he was about to lead the way.

Lin Yuanxiang quickly stopped him, "Lead what? It's not like we're going for the first time. You rest, you rest."

It took a lot of persuasion to stop him.

Li Shangde explained softly to Chen Fan, "This old man's surname is Na. He used to work in Rongbaozhai. Later, the job was passed on to his son, and now his son is also a shop assistant in Rongbaozhai. We know that person too. We can't negotiate the price when we get there, but we can talk about the quality of the goods. With us there, you won't suffer a loss."

Chen Fan chuckled, "Otherwise, I wouldn't have dragged you along."

Zhang Xuansong glanced at him from the side, "Hmph, I'm afraid it's not that simple!"

Li Shangde was a little curious, "What's the catch?"

Zhang Xuansong pointed at Chen Fan, "Don't you remember? This brat bought a courtyard and built a house, and he's run out of money. The ten thousand I gave him was for building the Taoist temple. He definitely wouldn't dare to spend it. So what do you say he's dragging us here for at this time?"

Li Shangde looked at Chen Fan, somewhat dumbfounded, "It can't be."

Lin Yuanxiang patted his pocket, "I brought all my money, what do you say?"

Chen Fan's mouth twitched slightly, "It can't be, it really can't be."

Lin Yuanxiang turned to look at him, "You still have money?"

Chen Fan chuckled dryly twice, "I just submitted a manuscript, more than 360,000 words, 7 yuan per thousand words, the manuscript fee is more than two thousand, I can get it when I go back. Also, there is another 500,000-word one. When Mr. Ba Jin returns to Shanghai and reads the manuscript, if there are no problems, there will also be a manuscript fee of 3,500 yuan."

Lin Yuanxiang smacked his lips, "You can make money."

Zhang Xuansong was a little envious, "Writing a book earns thousands of yuan. Ten of your books are worth my life's savings!"

Chen Fan, "Not really, writing a book is also very painful… Or, why don't you try writing one? You don't need much, 5,000 words will do!"

Zhang Xuansong shook his head, "Forget it, I can only write my name."

The group walked and talked, and soon arrived at a hutong entrance.

Lin Yuanxiang pointed inside, "This is the Haiwangcun China Bookstore. In 1952, more than 100 old book stalls on Liulichang Street were integrated to open this bookstore, specializing in old books. Aren't you interested in old books? You can go in and take a look."

Chen Fan looked inside, but couldn't see anything.

Zhang Xuansong walked towards that side with his crutch, and said, "This old bookstore is not open for business, it's in-store business. You have to go inside to know what's there."

While speaking, they entered the store. There were no customers inside, only a few shop assistants buried in sorting old books.

Lin Yuanxiang entered the door first, without even looking at anyone, he shouted, "Xiao Zhang."

A male comrade in his thirties turned his head and quickly ran over, "Uncle Lin, Uncle Zhang, Uncle Li, why are you here?"

While speaking, his eyes glanced at Chen Fan, seemingly curious.

These three old men have never had anyone else around them. How did a young man suddenly appear today?

Chen Fan was now looking at the interior of the bookstore. Well, it really didn't look like a bookstore, but rather like a library.

The surroundings were all bookshelves, piled full of old books. Several tables and chairs were placed in the middle for customers to sit and read after selecting books.

(Interior of Liulichang China Bookstore in the 1950s)

Lin Yuanxiang waved his hand and pointed at Chen Fan, "This is my apprentice, you can call him Xiao Chen. He wants to buy some old books, you take him to have a look."

Xiao Zhang nodded enthusiastically, "Okay, you three please sit here, I'll take him to see."

After asking the three old men to sit down, Xiao Zhang walked up to Chen Fan and asked with a smile, "Comrade Chen, what kind of old books do you want to buy?"

Chen Fan smiled and said, "I don't have a specific goal, I'm just browsing."

Xiao Zhang nodded, "Understood. How about this, I'll take you on a simple tour and introduce you, and then you can find it yourself."

Chen Fan smiled and nodded, "Thank you."

An hour later, the group walked out of the bookstore empty-handed.

It wasn't that they didn't buy anything, it was that they bought too much and couldn't carry it all. Xiao Zhang volunteered to pack it up and send it to their homes.

When leaving, Chen Fan was still a little worried, afraid that it would be damaged.

He had picked out a Song Dynasty edition of "Feng Sao" inside, which is "Chu Ci" and "The Book of Songs". According to Xiao Zhang's introduction, it is said that only the Beijing Library has a set, and the content is slightly different from this one, which can be said to be extremely precious.

Guess how much this original Song Dynasty "Feng Sao" cost?

Just one hammer price, 80!

In addition, there is a handwritten copy of "Liaozhai Waishu", which contains 4 articles that have never been seen before the 1960s: "The Opium Addict's戒", "The Story of a Group of Crippled Blind People", "The Tale of the Eastern Wall", and "The Biography of Plants and Trees".

60 to take it down!

In addition, there are dozens of similar books, filling two large wooden boxes, all of which cost only more than 800 yuan.

Well, it was Lin Shifu who gave the money.

Even so, Zhang Xuansong kept nagging, "Obviously there are cheap engraved editions, a book only costs a few cents, you don't buy the cheap ones, but you insist on buying these old books that are almost broken, and they're expensive. Are you sure there's nothing wrong with your brain?!"

(Workers in China Bookstore engraving ancient books in the 1960s)

Chen Fan didn't even turn his head back, "Those scriptures under your bed, there are engraved editions of them for sale here. Do you think they're the same?"

Zhang Xuansong argued confidently, "How can a few broken stories compare to scriptures? That's the foundation of the Taoist temple, it's the heritage, it's history, how can new goods compare?!"

Chen Fan, "That's right, I'm buying history, I'm buying heritage. If I just wanted to buy knowledge, I would go to Xinhua Bookstore, who would come here?"

Lin Yuanxiang and Li Shangde followed behind and watched the fun, while secretly remembering how their little apprentice argued with Old Zhang, which would definitely come in handy in the future!

Not long after leaving the bookstore, they finally arrived at the place they most wanted to visit today, Rongbaozhai.

(Rongbaozhai in the 1970s)

Compared to the unremarkable China Bookstore, Rongbaozhai was much more impressive.

Moreover, the doors here were wide open, welcoming guests from all directions, including many foreigners.

Lin Yuanxiang stepped forward two steps and walked to Chen Fan's side, explaining in a low voice, "This place has been responsible for receiving foreign guests since the founding of the country. Every time a foreign guest comes to visit, as long as they bring family members, the family members will be arranged to visit here, on the one hand to show our country's culture, and on the other hand to earn foreign exchange."

Chen Fan nodded lightly and joined the crowd to enter Rongbaozhai.

However, as soon as he entered the door, before he had time to look at the dazzling array of calligraphy and paintings on the wall, he saw Mr. Ba Jin waving to him, "Come over here, come over here."

Chen Fan was stunned for a moment, turned his head and looked at the three masters, and said, "That's Mr. Ba Jin, let's go say hello."

When Lin Yuanxiang and the others heard this, their eyes lit up and they quickly walked over.

Carefully avoiding the crowd, Chen Fan walked up to Old Ba and first introduced him, "These three are my masters, all retired veterans who came from the Long March period. This is Master Lin, this is Master Zhang, this is Master Li."

When Old Ba heard this, he immediately became respectful and stretched out his hands, "Hello, three old brothers."

Lin Yuanxiang rushed to shake hands, smiling with a flushed face, "Hello, hello, I have long admired you. The "Reunion" you wrote is really good, it wrote about the lives of our soldiers, and your other works are also very good, I like them all very much."

Old Ba just smiled and said, "Thank you, thank you."

Before he could finish speaking, Zhang Xuansong snatched his hands away.

Zhang Xuansong pushed Lin Yuanxiang away, smiling like a flower, "Oh, oh, I didn't expect that I would have the opportunity to see a great writer in my life, I am very fortunate."

Chen Fan watched the expressions of the three masters from the side and couldn't help but twitch his eyes.

Good fellow, so you guys are also star chasers?!

Old Ba quickly shook his head, saying with a serious face, "No, no, it is my great honor to see you three."

He held Zhang Xuansong's hand tightly, and looked at the two people next to him, and said with emotion, "I have been on the battlefield, but the places I have been to are not worth mentioning compared to the three old brothers. You are the heroes…"

After a round of mutual praise, Old Ba shook hands with Li Shangde again, and then smiled at Chen Fan, "Did you and the three masters come here to see calligraphy and paintings?"

Chen Fan naturally couldn't say that he wanted to come here to find bargains, so he smiled and said, "Yes, yes, the main thing is to come and see the works of senior calligraphers and painters, to see if I can improve myself."

Old Ba laughed and turned to Lin Yuanxiang and the three, "This apprentice of yours has extraordinary calligraphy skills. If he improves further, I think he will be invincible in the world."

Lin Yuanxiang and the three naturally looked at each other, looking at Chen Fan with suspicion. Is this kid so powerful?

Chen Fan winked at them and said with a soft smile, "Treating calligraphy as swordsmanship is actually quite simple."

The three nodded in unison, swordsmanship, that's indeed quite simple.

At this time, Old Ba smiled again, "It's better to come early than to come by chance. It just so happens that there are several calligraphers and painters communicating in the inner hall, you can join us."

(Inner hall of Rongbaozhai, home of calligraphers and painters)

He also took the hands of Lin Yuanxiang and Zhang Xuansong, "Come, come, I'll take you to meet them. If they see you, they will definitely be very happy."

After saying that, he took the two of them and walked inside.

Chen Fan accompanied Li Shangde and walked inside together.

It wasn't until they left that the staff of Rongbaozhai breathed a sigh of relief.

It was only because Old Ba had a big face, otherwise a few people chatting together would have attracted a crowd of onlookers. More importantly, there were foreign guests present, which might have affected the image.