Reborn in 1977

Chapter 60: Writing a Diary

“Arrived here on January 19th, unconscious for half a day and night. Woke up on the morning of January 20th, caught a turtle in the afternoon and ate it. On the 21st, taught Team 6 how to kill turtles. On the morning of the 22nd, went to Captain Yang's house to slaughter a pig, and in the afternoon, went to the brigade to teach how to kill turtles. On the morning of the 23rd, went to Team 4, and in the afternoon, went to Team 7. On the same day, all production teams went to the commune to pull electric poles. On the morning of the 24th, went to Team 8, and in the afternoon, went to Team 9. The production team planted electric poles. Today is January 25th, and I'm going to the brigade headquarters to teach Vice-Captain Xiao's family how to make sauerkraut. The production team continues to plant electric poles.”

Chen Fan put the dip pen back into the bamboo tube, his face somewhat melancholy.

Five days have passed, today is already the 6th day, why hasn't Public Security Officer Zhu responded yet?

Jiang Lili stood aside, staring dumbfounded at what he had written, "Is this the diary you wrote?"

Chen Fan looked at her strangely, "Huh, is there a problem?"

Jiang Lili looked at him, then at the words on the notebook, "What you wrote is too simple."

In her opinion, even elementary school students write better than this.

She now even suspects whether Chen Fan has ever attended senior primary school (the first, second, and third grades of primary school are called junior primary, and the fourth and fifth grades are called senior primary).

Chen Fan didn't care, "A diary is a diary, it's just to record what happened every day, why write in so much detail?"

If it weren't to help with memory, who in their right mind would write a diary?

Then he turned the notebook over, opened the back cover, and opened the last page, "I'm going to keep accounts now, can you help me count them?"

Although Captain Yang explained it very clearly, that these were all rewards, thank-you gifts, and return gifts. But he couldn't take it for granted and just accept them like that. He would still have to repay this favor if he had the opportunity in the future.

After all, in his opinion, teaching how to kill turtles was really nothing, not to mention that Team 6 had given him work points.

It was fine before when he didn't have paper and pen, and he was too embarrassed to borrow them from Jiang Lili. Coincidentally, yesterday at Team 9, the team's accountant gave him a notebook, two dip pens, and a few packets of ink powder.

A dip pen is not a real pen. It is a bit similar to a quill pen. It is just a nib connected to a long pen holder. When you want to write, you can write by dipping the nib in ink. After writing, you dip it again. It is very inconvenient, and the ink flow is uneven when writing. It is very thick when you first dip it in water, and then it becomes lighter and lighter until you re-dip it.

Even so, the accountant saw that Chen Fan looked like a scholar and gave it to him specially.

The ink powder is a small packet of dry powder, which can be mixed with water, shaken well, and then it becomes ink.

Chen Fan had never seen these two things before. At first, he didn't want to accept them, but after hearing the captain say that they weren't worth much money, he accepted them.

Plus that notebook with rough paper, it was just right for recording things.

“Oh.”

Jiang Lili pouted and looked at the things piled up on two beds next to her, "Where do we start counting from?"

Chen Fan thought for a while, "Let's start with the brigade headquarters, one item at a time."

Then Jiang Lili counted and reported to him, and Chen Fan quickly recorded it.

After a count, there were really a lot of things.

Not to mention the "educated youth gift package" from the brigade headquarters, and not to mention the military coat and leather shoes given by Vice-Captain Xiao, just the things given by the various teams added up to a lot.

There were 12 teams. Team 6 gave him several sets of clothes and shoes, as well as 30 catties of rice and half a bag of sweet potatoes. Of the remaining 11 teams, Chen Fan went to 5 himself, and Liu Jujiang went to 6. He received a piece of meat and a fish from the places he went, and the others were also sent to Chen Fan.

Now, accumulated, there are 250 catties of rice, 16 pieces of cured meat, 16 cured fish, 33 catties of cotton, and 11 catties of rapeseed oil.

These are the main supplies. Other sundries include 5 packs of pickles, 8 bottles of homemade soy sauce, 8 bottles of homemade vinegar, 6 jars of chili sauce, 6 jars of pickled vegetables, a kidney-shaped basin, two bamboo chairs, a bamboo basket, a bamboo back basket, two carrying poles, four buckets, two wash basins, two bamboo hats, two raincoats, four pairs of straw sandals, three pairs of clogs, and two washboards. Finally, there is the pen, ink, and paper he is using.

These clogs are not the kind of clogs from Little Japan, but common household items that have been passed down for more than 3,000 years. King Fucha of Wu loved to listen to the sound of Xi Shi dancing in clogs, and even built a "Clattering Clog Corridor." Li Bai also has the line "Wearing Xie Gong's clogs, climbing the ladder to the blue sky."

A wooden board is shaped like a foot, with two vertical wooden boards nailed to the front and back. Then drill a few holes on the edge of the shoe board and pull a few hemp ropes, which is a common rural clog.

On rainy days, you can directly tie the clogs to your feet with shoes on to avoid getting dirty with mud and it is not easy to slip. Wealthy people can also install a piece of leather on the shoe board, so you can directly wear clogs barefoot. If poor people want to wear them barefoot, they have to paste several layers of coarse cloth and dry them to make the upper.

At this time, a good pair of leather clogs costs 2 yuan, which is not cheap.

As for bamboo hats, raincoats, and straw sandals, they are the "three-piece set" that every household must have these days.

People with conditions even have a set for everyone. Poor families without conditions also have at least two bamboo hats and a raincoat.

The most expensive of these is the raincoat, which takes a lot of work and time to make, and can be sold for two yuan at the market. The cheapest are straw sandals, 5 cents a pair. Almost every household in the production team has someone who can make straw sandals.

Such a large pile of sundries is not worth much money, but the kindness is rare, and Chen Fan recorded them all one by one.

After being busy, the sky was already bright. Chen Fan stretched and got up and said, "I'm going to Team 5 to help Captain Xiao's family make sauerkraut. If all goes well, I should be back in the afternoon. We'll continue to eat turtles tonight."

Speaking of turtles, he suddenly remembered, "Hey, are those turtles I put in the pig trough in the back still okay?"

Jiang Lili grinned and smiled, "By the time you remember, they will either starve to death or freeze to death."

Chen Fan's eyes widened, "Ah?"

Jiang Lili smiled, "Don't worry, I picked some silt and filled it in the two stone troughs. They're all fine now."

Chen Fan breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, "It would be a pity if they died. The blood can't be released, and the meat doesn't taste good at all."

After a pause, he said again, "Don't just hang up these meat and fish. You can also cut a little to eat when you eat."

Jiang Lili shook her head repeatedly, "These are your things, how can I eat them?"

Chen Fan straightened his face, "Then I accepted a pair of cotton shoes from you."

Jiang Lili lowered her head and said nothing.

Chen Fan's face fell. Well, this is silent protest.

He could only wave his hand, "After I'm done today, I'll cook in the future."

Jiang Lili quickly raised her head, puffing out her cheeks without speaking.

Chen Fan wanted to laugh again looking at her.

At this time, the courtyard door was knocked, and Captain Yang pushed the door open and walked in, "Yo, Little Chen, you're still here. I was afraid you had already left. Public Security Officer Zhu will be here in a moment to talk about your matter."