Reborn in 1977

Chapter 575: Things Change, People Change

On the night before leaving, Chen Fan was exhausted.

He spent a full four hours giving a half-night lesson to those sixteen educated youths who were clearly full of grievances but could only force smiles.

Afterward, everyone was beaming, with not a trace of resentment left.

The matter was, in fact, his fault. He had assigned those educated youths an essay, but the next day he ran off to the provincial capital. It was only when Huang Li mentioned it in a letter that he remembered the matter.

But at that time, he was busy preparing for the correspondence center, so he couldn't go back. He could only have Huang Li send their essays to him, and then he wrote a comment for each person and sent them back.

Now that he had finally returned, and there was nothing in Lujia Village that needed his help, he simply decided to give these educated youths a little something to look forward to.

He spent half the night answering many difficult questions for them and helping them sort out the review syllabus.

In fact, these people's foundations were not bad. The main reason they failed the previous year was that what they studied had nothing to do with what was tested. By the time they managed to get their hands on study materials, the exam was just around the corner.

In short, they started too late.

Later, they tried every means to come to Lujia Village, all for the sake of the reputation that more than 20 people here had been admitted to key universities.

To put it more directly, they came for Teacher Chen. Their families had spent a lot of favors for this.

After coming here, their efforts were not in vain.

The team had prepared a study room for them in advance at the educated youth center, with study materials left by Huang Ying and the others. Moreover, before Huang Ying and the others went to register at the university, they also enjoyed a period of "expert tutoring," laying a solid foundation for their review.

With study materials and a reasonable review plan, these people usually helped each other, and from time to time they wrote letters to Huang Ying, Liu Dan, and Yang Ju for advice. Their knowledge of mathematics, physics, and chemistry at the middle school level had greatly improved.

If even their collective wisdom couldn't solve it, then it must be that they all didn't understand the knowledge point.

There was no way around this. Even with Huang Ying and the others teaching remotely, the written material was, after all, different from a live lecture, and the effect was very limited due to the short time.

Now it was different. Teacher Chen, the "super teacher" famous in Yunhu, was lecturing in person. They could ask questions on the spot, get answers on the spot, and even link up other knowledge points to help them find and fill in the gaps in their knowledge.

Therefore, although he only lectured for 4 hours, these people also gained a lot, and had a clear idea of the entire study plan. As long as they followed this plan, they would make great progress in the next month or so.

Although they were not necessarily sure of being admitted to a key university, they were confident of getting into an undergraduate program.

And these people were not freeloading.

When they confirmed that their learning progress was faster than their classmates in school, their families had already reacted, actively helping to promote Lujia Village products.

Now Lujia Village's products have a green light all the way in the county and the prefectural committee, and more and more units are taking the initiative to come to order.

If Lujia Village hadn't pulled in the other four production teams south of the commune, and their breeding scale had gradually approached Lujia Village, I'm afraid they simply wouldn't be able to supply enough.

Other units were fine, but mainly the Yunhu Machinery Factory and Yunhu Cotton Textile Factory, these two 10,000-person factories, could consume a large amount of agricultural products every day.

These two were naturally not because of these educated youths, but because of Chen Fan's reputation.

With so many customers, as long as Lujia Village insisted on controlling the quality well, it would be no joke to describe it as making money every day.

As for how to develop the next step, Chen Fan said, wait a few years.

Now Lujia Village is too full, it must be properly digested for two years. This is also the reason why Chen Fan didn't care much about Lujia Village this year.

… …

May 29th, Monday.

Just as the sky dawned, Zhou Zhengdong and his party embarked on their return journey with the farewell of the commune leaders and the cadres of the Lujia Village Brigade.

In addition to their luggage, there was also a box of gifts.

Ahem, Lujia Village actually didn't have any special souvenirs worth taking away, except for the lotus root powder, coarse tea, rice wine, and dried fruits that Chen Fan helped to choose. The most important thing was the two bottles of wine he personally concocted.

One bottle of tiger bone wine and one bottle of tiger penis wine.

Zhou Zhengdong regarded them as treasures, watching Chen Fan wrap them layer upon layer with straw, for fear of breaking them.

This thing is a treasure no matter where it is. Not to mention how difficult it is to buy tiger bones, tiger penises, and wild ginseng exported from the mainland abroad, even if you can buy them by chance, it is useless, because the best medicinal wine recipes are not available in any pharmacy.

And he only took a small sip of each of these two kinds of wine, and felt several years younger, which shows that the medicinal power is sufficient, and it is the best medicinal wine recipe.

With these two jars of medicinal wine, maybe they can add a child to the Zhou family.

So after getting on the boat, he specially tied the box to the boat with a rope, stepped on it with one foot, and held his wife, who was less than 45 years old, with one hand, looking high-spirited, which made Zhao Wanru a little inexplicable.

The journey was smooth, first by boat to the prefectural committee, and then by car straight to the provincial capital.

Afterwards, Chen Fan drove the car back to the Writers Association, and then joined them, and then went straight to the airport without stopping.

The reason for leaving today is also because there is a flight from the provincial capital to Shenyang this afternoon, seamless connection, no time wasted.

After more than three hours of flight, they arrived at Shenyang Dongta Airport.

The future Xiantao International Airport will not be built and operated until 1989, and it does not exist yet.

The purpose of this trip was to go to the Zhou family's ancestral home to worship their ancestors. The Zhou family's ancestral home was in the mountainous area about 4 or 50 kilometers away from SY City. In those years, the Zhou family held thousands of acres of land and had been in business for many years, with a considerable fortune, and was considered a local powerhouse.

Later, the Zhou family did business and bought property in other places, which did not affect the continued operation of the ancestral home. The Zhou family's ancestors were also buried here.

From 1644 to 1667, the Manchu Qing Dynasty implemented the "Liaodong Recruitment and Reclamation Regulations" to encourage the people in Guan Nei to immigrate to the Northeast, and the first "Venturing into the Northeast" began.

But it has nothing to do with the Zhou family.

Later, in order to protect the interests of the Manchus, the Qing government once stopped the immigration policy, and the Northeast entered a period of relative closure.

Until 1861, with the weakening of the Qing government's control over the border and the encroachment of Tsarist Russia on the northeastern border, they reopened the immigration policy, so a large number of Guan Nei people migrated to the Northeast.

Especially the "Ding-Wu Famine" in 1877 led to a large-scale famine, which caused many places to migrate whole villages.

The Zhou family's ancestors went from Shandong at that time, and now it has been exactly 100 years.

Counting to 1932, that is 55 years. It took 55 years to save more than 1,000 acres of land, and it is still in the mountainous area. It feels like that?

In fact, it is already very good. Those who can successfully venture into the Northeast are not simple people. I don't know how many people have disappeared without any news. Those are ordinary people with bad luck and low skills.

The Zhou family's ancestors can already be regarded as outstanding talents.

As in Jiangnan Provincial City, when they arrived here, local cadres also came to pick them up and accompany them.

For Zhou Zhengdong and Zhao Wanru, these social engagements were all small scenes. Even Zhou Yali, who was only 19 years old and a sophomore in college, was always generous and decent. You couldn't tell that she was the one who hugged the panda cub and cried when she left.

As for Chen Fan, the importance he received was not much weaker than Zhou Zhengdong. A big shot from the provincial cultural department personally came to accompany him, which can be said to have given him enough face.

After the dinner, they stayed overnight at the best "Liaoning Hotel" in the local area. Early the next morning, they went to the ancestral home accompanied by a group of cadres.

(Liaoning Hotel in the 1970s)

After a bumpy hour, when Zhou Zhengdong found the place, he took out an old photo and looked at the scene in front of him, his face couldn't help but become wooden.

In the photo, there is a memorial archway. After passing the memorial archway, there is a small ancestral hall. On the hillside behind the ancestral hall is the cemetery.

Now the memorial archway and the ancestral hall are gone, and even the cemetery… looks as new as it could be.

Looking at Zhou Zhengdong's livid face, the accompanying cadres all looked embarrassed. They looked at me, and I looked at you, but no one spoke.

Chen Fan looked around, took two steps forward, and said to the old team leader who was smoking a dry cigarette and was about 6 or 70 years old, "Uncle, let's not talk about what happened back then. I just want to ask, has it been exposed?"

The old man spit out a puff of smoke, turned his head to look at the hillside where the cemetery was located, and said softly, "This mountain depression had no name before. Later, when it had an owner, it was called Zhoujiagou. All the people here 50 years ago were tenants of the Zhou family."

He turned his head to look at Zhou Zhengdong and smiled, "I saw you when you were one or two years old."

Zhou Zhengdong was slightly stunned, his face eased a little, and he asked, "Excuse me, who are you?"

The old man waved his hand, "It doesn't matter what you call me."

He turned his head to look at the cemetery again, sighing, "The memorial arch and ancestral hall were torn down by me, and the graves were also dug up by me. I had no choice. If we dig, we only dig a bit, but if they dig, everything will be exposed."

Zhou Zhengdong couldn't help but fall silent upon hearing this.

Nearly half a century had passed, and things had changed.

Zhao Wanru and Zhou Yali immediately walked to his side, each taking one of his arms, without saying a word.

The few cadres beside them felt even more awkward, all turning their gazes towards the section chief who was leading them.

The section chief, after all, had seen the "world." This kind of scene wasn't the first time he'd faced it, so he cleared his throat and said a few platitudes, "The days of mistakes are over. We are walking on the right path. We can guarantee, blah blah blah..."

After he finished speaking, Zhou Zhengdong was silent for a moment before turning his gaze to Chen Fan.

Chen Fan shrugged, only saying, "There are no ancestral graves in Lujiawan."

Zhou Zhengdong then felt relieved.

Although he had never met Fourth Master Lu, he had heard Chen Fan mention him, knowing that Lujiawan used to be the Lu family's land, and the current commune members used to be the Lu family's tenants.

Guarding more than 5,000 acres of land, if the Zhou family hadn't gone into business, they really wouldn't have been as good as the Lu family back then.

Now everyone was in the same boat. The Zhou family had moved far away to North America, and apart from a Fourth Master Lu who stayed behind, the whereabouts of the other members of the Lu family were unknown.

And even with a Fourth Master Lu guarding it, he couldn't protect the Lu family's ancestral graves. The Zhou family didn't even leave a servant to guard the house, so it was already pretty good that they were able to keep this cemetery.

After understanding this, Zhou Zhengdong took a deep breath and bowed slightly to the old team leader, "Thank you, old brother, for your kindness in guarding this place."

As soon as he said this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that this hurdle had been overcome.

The old team leader sighed, waved his hand, and didn't say anything else, only pointing to the hillside and saying, "When digging up the hilltops, I marked the center of each grave. A few days ago, the commune said you were coming back to pay respects to your ancestors, so I had people refill the graves, all in their original positions, so there's definitely no mistake.

"But the tombstones haven't been erected. One is because there wasn't enough time, and the other is because there wasn't enough money. So I wrote the names on wooden boards and stuck them in front of the graves. You'll see them when you go up."

Zhou Zhengdong bowed again before walking up the mountain.

Zhao Wanru and Zhou Yali supported him, their faces solemn.

Chen Fan?

He carried two large baskets, filled with incense, paper, and firecrackers, ultimately bearing everything.

After the ceremony, Zhou Zhengdong, after consulting with the accompanying cadres, left a sum of money for the village, asking the old team leader to help rebuild the memorial arch and ancestral hall.

He then stayed in Shenyang for a day before flying to the capital.

What? Hunting?

Zhou Yali dared to mention hunting at this time?

She couldn't wait to run away as soon as possible, so she wouldn't have to see her father's face, which was gloomy all day long, making her afraid just looking at it.

They didn't go anywhere that day, just resting in the hotel.

Only Chen Fan was constantly on the phone, first contacting the Jilin hunting team, asking if they had any good goods on hand, and then getting the Liaoning hunting team's phone number from them, making contact with them.

The reason for going around in circles was still because of the "system" thing at play.

Even if you went through the provincial channels, people would certainly give you face, but it would only be on official business. But if you had a brother unit in the system help you make a call, then there was no question, they would definitely treat you like one of their own.

So that night, Chen Fan managed to gather two tiger skins and two sets of tiger bones, as well as a live gyrfalcon chick.

Normally speaking, a gyrfalcon chick was something that no hunter would ever let go of, but who told Chen Fan to give so much?

Or rather, who told Chen Fan to be so generous and give so much on behalf of his uncle?

Gyrfalcon chick, 10,000 US dollars, sell or not?

When Zhou Zhengdong received the bill for a total of 20,000 US dollars, he was dumbfounded, "Why does it cost so much?"

Chen Fan calmly calculated it for him, "Tiger skin is 3,000 US dollars each, two skins are 6,000 US dollars, gyrfalcon chick is 10,000 US dollars, that's 16,000. In addition, tiger bones, mink fur, deer antler, ginseng, forest frog oil, bear bile, bear paw, dried sea cucumber... all these things add up to 4,000 US dollars, and that's already a discount. A total of 20,000 US dollars, definitely not a loss."

Zhou Zhengdong listened to Chen Fan's words, looked at the list in his hand, and after a moment, silently asked Zhao Wanru to get a check.

In the past, the Zhou family specialized in operating "Northern Goods." The so-called Northern Goods were specialties from the North.

Even after going to the United States, after gaining a foothold, they also acquired Northern Goods through old connections and a certain trading company in Hong Kong, which could be considered an ancestral business. Zhou Zhengdong was naturally no stranger to these things.

All the other things were within a reasonable price range, except for the gyrfalcon chick, which had no price!

Normally speaking, how much could a bird be worth?

A sparrow was three cents, or fried well, a pheasant was three yuan, fragrant for soup.

But this was a gyrfalcon, the ancestral sacred bird of the Northeast!

During the Manchu Qing Dynasty, presenting a gyrfalcon could exempt one from the death penalty.

If you met someone who didn't know the goods, it was worthless, but if you met someone who knew the goods, it was priceless.

Were the Zhou family people ignorant?

Zhou Zhengdong looked at the chick, his eyes full of curiosity, "This is indeed a gyrfalcon, but why does it feel like it doesn't have the fierceness of a gyrfalcon?"

Chen Fan shrugged, "Because I tamed it."

He had already discussed it with this bird, as long as it was obedient, he would provide food and housing. This little bird didn't understand anything, it was still in the stage of being fed, and when it heard Chen Fan's words, it regarded him as its mother, agreeing without saying a word.

So now it was particularly well-behaved, not even getting angry when it saw strangers.

Zhou Zhengdong looked at Chen Fan in surprise, "You tamed it just like that?"

Chen Fan nodded seriously, "Tamed."

Zhou Zhengdong fell silent.

Everyone knew that a gyrfalcon would never serve two masters in its lifetime, so I spent 10,000 US dollars to buy my nephew a bird?

He knew about gyrfalcons, but Zhou Yali didn't.

Seeing that this little bird was super cute, especially its eyes, she immediately liked it, and then, hearing Chen Fan say that it had been tamed, she immediately took his hand and said, "Brother, you haven't given me a gift yet, so give me this little bird."

Chen Fan immediately fell silent.

Never given a gift?

Don't the books count? Don't the paintings and calligraphy in Lujiawan count? Doesn't the beauty cream made with badger oil count?

But Zhou Yali didn't care so much, directly picked up the gyrfalcon chick, grinning and saying, "From today on, you'll be called Xiaoqing, and you'll be with me from now on. I'll take you to eat delicious food and drink spicy drinks, okay?"

The gyrfalcon nestled in her hand, looking at Chen Fan expectantly, should I peck or not?

Zhou Yali also looked at Chen Fan, who was not speaking, expectantly, "You wouldn't be reluctant, would you?"

Chen Fan pondered for two seconds, "Are you sure you can take this thing back to America?"

Zhou Yali's face stiffened slightly, turning to look at her father, "?"

Zhou Zhengdong smiled, looking at Chen Fan meaningfully, "As long as you're willing to give it, I can take it back."

Chen Fan, "..."

Finally, he shrugged, "Okay then."

Looking at Zhou Zhengdong's expression, he knew that he understood the meaning of this bird. Europe also had a tradition of falconry, and falconers were not uncommon. With his social status, finding a falconer to help train the gyrfalcon shouldn't be difficult.

So this bird wouldn't be buried if it was given to Zhou Yali.

It's just that I need to find this kind of bird again.

I wonder if the Eurasian hobby will be jealous when it finds out.

…

June 1st, my doom.

They took a plane and landed in the capital again.

In addition to the ancestral land, Zhou Zhengdong also wanted to visit two other places.

One was the former location of the Zhou family's business headquarters: Tianjin, and the other was the location of the most important branch: Shanghai.

In those years, both places had friends and partners of the Zhou family. Even after the Zhou family went to the United States, they still had business dealings until the 1950s, when contact was suddenly lost.

This time, Zhou Zhengdong came back to see them by the way.

The plane landed, and someone was still picking them up.

The last time Zhou Zhengdong and the others came to the capital, they stayed at the Overseas Chinese Hotel.

But this time, he declined the local arrangements and still decided to stay at his nephew's house.

West Bank of Shichahai, outside the high walls.

Chen Fan squatted on the ground, silently smoking a cigarette.

Zhou Zhengdong's face was full of curiosity, "You don't have the key to your own house?"

Chen Fan slowly exhaled a puff of smoke, his gaze cast on the lakeside path where few people passed by, "I'm usually not in the capital, so I left the key with my master."

Then why not go to your master's house to get the key?

Of course, it's because there are too many people here and the place there is too small, and now the accompanying personnel are driving to pick them up.