Reborn in 1977

After the three of them entered the restaurant, everyone formally began to eat and drink.

After a few cups of wine, they didn't delay in shoveling down two bowls of rice.

Once they were about seventy or eighty percent full, everyone slowed down, lit a cigarette, and chatted while eating.

Zhang Wenliang looked at Chen Fan, "Old Chen, you said that the best tailors in the country are in Shanghai, and that you haven't even seen the clothes they make. What's the story behind that?"

Chen Fan slowly and deliberately pinched a wad of tobacco and stuffed it into his pipe. When he looked up, he saw Accountant Liu spreading a piece of paper on the table, slowly rolling tobacco. He couldn't help but laugh, "Accountant Liu, still smoking hand-rolled cigarettes?"

Accountant Liu held up his self-rolled cigarette, thick at both ends, and chuckled, "When times were tough, I bought a lot of tobacco. I can't waste it, so I roll it myself and smoke it."

He borrowed a light from Captain Yang's cigarette, and exhaled a cloud of smoke… Smoke that was from the burning paper, quite unique.

Then he laughed, "Anyway, we're all family here, no need to worry about embarrassing Lujiawan. I'll just smoke this."

Xiao Liewen chimed in, "What's embarrassing about that? Anyone who laughs at you is showing that they've lost the spirit and style of hard work and simplicity. They should have to eat hardship meals."

As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly came to his senses and turned to look at Chen Fan, "Hey, back at the brigade headquarters, didn't they say you were going to have to eat hardship meals?"

Chen Fan quickly shook his head, "No, no, they said Brother Sanhu would take the militia company to eat hardship meals."

Xiao Liewen was a little dizzy from the alcohol, and looked up at the still-bright sky, "Really?"

Chen Fan imperceptibly breathed a sigh of relief, and looked up at Zhang Wenliang, "You asked a good question. Why I want to take Liu Lu to Shanghai to learn, and why I say the best tailors in the country are in Shanghai, even though I haven't seen their work myself, it all has a background."

This immediately attracted the attention of everyone, including Xiao Liewen. They all stared at him, waiting for him to continue.

Taking a puff of his pipe, Chen Fan asked seriously, "I ask you, do you know where was the most prosperous place during the Republic of China era?"

Zhang Wenliang said without thinking, "Shanghai, of course."

The Paris of the Far East, the largest city in Asia, the fashion capital of the Far East…

Even he, as a "younger generation," had heard the elders talk about these titles of Shanghai.

Back then, Fourth Master Lu was still able to live a peaceful life, and the elders in his family respected Fourth Master Lu, so the children of the Fifth Team loved to go find Fourth Master Lu and listen to him tell stories about the outside world.

He had heard many things from Fourth Master Lu.

Chen Fan nodded, "Indeed. Since Shanghai was the most lively, the rich naturally loved to run to Shanghai. And the rich are very particular, so under their high demands, the tailors of Shanghai became more skilled, even better than tailors in other cities.

Among them, the 'Hongbang Tailors' are the most famous. The skills of these Hongbang Tailors are not only praised by customers from all over the world as the best in Asia, but some people without prejudice even believe that their sewing skills are no weaker than those of tailors dedicated to European royalty, making them world-class."

"Hongbang Tailors?"

Xiao Liewen frowned, squinting his eyes thoughtfully, "I've only heard of the Hong Society. Are these Hongbang Tailors related to the Hongmen?"

Chen Fan shook his head repeatedly, "No, no, those are completely different things, unrelated."

He put down his pipe and took a sip of tea before slowly explaining, "The 'Hong' is not the 'Hong' of flood, but the 'Hong' of red. Because in the Shanghai dialect, 'Feng' and 'Hong' sound the same, so outsiders mistakenly spread it as Hongbang Tailors. Over time, the 'Hong' character became the orthodox one, and few people mention the 'Feng' character."

This sentence made Xiao Liewen put aside other thoughts and nodded in realization, picking up his glass for a small drink.

After clarifying the key point, Chen Fan continued, "Hongbang Tailors, also known as Fengbang Tailors, refers to the group of tailors who came from the Ningbo area and made a living in Shanghai. They have two hallmarks: one is that they only make suits and cheongsams, and no other clothes at all; the other is 'tailor-made'."

"Tailor-made?"

Zhang Wenliang stared at him, asking in surprise, "Isn't tailor-made the basic skill of a tailor? How is it a characteristic of Hongbang Tailors?"

Chen Fan smiled and shook his head, "No, it's not."

After a two-second pause, he thought for a moment and continued, "Let's take the cheongsam as an example. Before the Hongbang Tailors improved the cheongsam, it was similar to the early mandarin jacket, two pieces of cloth sewn together, a straight tube from top to bottom."

Looking at Chen Fan's gestures, Zhang Wenliang seemed to understand a little, "Straight clothes, use more fabric?"

Chen Fan opened his mouth and blinked, wanting to say that wasn't quite the point, but he felt like he wasn't wrong either?

After pondering for two seconds, he nodded, "That's about the idea."

Then he continued to explain, "In the beginning, the suits that were introduced to our country were directly copied from Western patterns, characterized by being thick and loose.

But Asians are not as tall and strong as Europeans, especially during the Republic of China era. Even the sons of wealthy families rarely raised fat people, so when wearing suits, they felt a bit like a monkey wearing a hat.

At that time, someone asked a Ningbo garment company to make a suit, but after receiving the clothes, they were very dissatisfied with the way they looked and asked for a refund. When the tailor saw it, he didn't make any excuses, just said to give him a few more days to modify it.

After that, he re-measured the customer's height and size, and made a slim-fitting suit using a close-fitting tailoring method. The customer was very satisfied when he picked up the goods again, and from then on, the Hongbang Tailors became famous in Shanghai."

Chen Fan took a sip of tea, and talked endlessly about the interesting stories of the Hongbang Tailors back then.

For example, the first Zhongshan suit was designed by Hongbang Tailors based on Mr. Sun's needs and modeled after the officer's uniform in a small notebook.

The first slim-fitting cheongsam was made when the famous star Hu Die of Shanghai Beach finally bought a piece of lace fabric and searched all the famous tailoring shops in Shanghai, but no one dared to take it on. Finally, a Hongbang Tailor took over and used the close-fitting tailoring method of making suits to create the first improved cheongsam, which led to the graceful cheongsam figure of later generations.

There was also the first suit shop, the first suit, the first theoretical monograph on suits…

After a long talk, Chen Fan expressed one meaning: to become a top tailor, you must go to Shanghai and learn from an old Hongbang Tailor.

Of course, that was before. After the reform and opening up, especially after the 1990s, various clothing training schools sprang up, and various new tailoring methods could be learned in schools, so it was not so troublesome.

After listening to Chen Fan's storytelling, Zhang Wenliang was still a little curious, "Even you haven't seen clothes made by Hongbang Tailors?"

Come to think of it, Chen Fan had been to the prefectural committee, the provincial capital, Shanghai, Beijing, and the Northeast since he left Lujiawan. Moreover, most of the people he interacted with were those with status and position. Among so many people, surely someone must have worn clothes made by Hongbang tailors, right?

Chen Fan pursed his lips, thinking to himself that he had certainly seen them.

Well, he saw them on TV. Boss Bao in "Blossoms Shanghai" wore suits specially tailored by Hongbang tailors.

As for real life, well, okay, he hadn't seen them either.

Of course, he wouldn't say these things. He first took a puff of his dry tobacco pipe, then looked at him with a smile that wasn't quite a smile, and said, "When I was in Shanghai, I was shopping in a store and happened to see a female comrade picking up her pants at a sewing shop.

When she ordered the pants, the female comrade requested that they be fitted and not too loose. But when she picked them up, the shop assistant gave her a pair of loose pants that everyone was wearing. Guess why?"

He didn't directly state the reason, but Zhang Wenliang smacked his lips and understood what he meant, so he didn't say anything.

Secretary Yang sat next to Chen Fan and couldn't help but shake his head, "These young people just like to look good, and they don't care if it has a bad influence. If the pants are made too tight, their butts will be all stretched out, which is not a good look."

Chen Fan silently smoked his cigarette, paused for two seconds, and then said softly, "Uncle Yang, do you know what kind of clothes are most popular in big cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou now?"

Secretary Yang picked up a peanut and threw it into his mouth, turning his head to look at him sideways, "What?"

Chen Fan gestured with one hand, "Floral shirts, bell-bottom jeans, and aviator sunglasses. That's what men wear. Women wear pretty much the same thing: floral shirts and bell-bottoms. It's just that women's sunglasses are harder to buy."

Although he gestured, Secretary Yang and the others still didn't know what he was talking about and looked at him blankly.

Chen Fan turned his head and glanced at them, chuckling, "Anyway, if you were to see those clothes, let alone wear them, you probably wouldn't even want to look at them, and would throw them directly into the river."

Everyone looked at each other.

After two seconds, the administrator Huang suddenly said quietly, "There's no need to throw them away. Cut them up and they can still be used as patches."

Chen Fan was speechless. After several seconds, he gave administrator Huang a thumbs up to show his respect.

He then turned to look at Secretary Yang and said seriously, "Everyone has a love for beauty. In the past, clothes were required to be 'fitting,' but the so-called 'fitting' was actually to conceal the curves of the body.

You're an old hand and have seen a lot. Will those wicked people really get rid of their dirty thoughts just because they can't see curves?"

Secretary Yang frowned slightly, smoking his cigarette and thinking about something, without saying anything.

Chen Fan took a puff of his cigarette and continued, "It's just that floral shirts, bell-bottoms, and jeans are all coming from the South, and the production is not high. Many young people want to buy them but can't, so there aren't many people wearing these clothes on the surface.

If the production can keep up, and the price is right, I wouldn't dare to say more, but at least half of the young people would buy these clothes, at least one set, to wear when they gather with friends. That's fashion."

At this time, the tobacco in his pipe had burned out. He knocked out the ashes, took a sip of tea, and then, too lazy to pack more tobacco, put the pipe on the table, took out a filtered cigarette from his pocket, passed one around to everyone, and then lit one in his mouth.

After a few seconds, he turned his head and continued, "I arrived at the prefectural committee yesterday and went to see Director Jiang of the cotton mill to discuss the down jacket matter."

Hearing this, everyone's attention became more focused, and they all turned their eyes to him.

Chen Fan looked around and said seriously, "At my persuasion, Director Jiang has decided to personally go to the provincial capital to apply for approval from the leaders to build a down jacket fabric production line."

Chen Fan had discussed this matter with Secretary Yang and the others before. Now, hearing that the fabric production line was promising, they couldn't help but show excited expressions.

Zhang Wenliang even slapped his thigh and grinned, laughing, "Great! I'm telling you, the cooked food workshop can accumulate a lot of chicken, duck, and goose down every day. Although cleaning these things up can earn a little money, the value is far less than if we make our own duck and goose down."

Chen Fan smiled and continued, "If there are no accidents, their production line can be put into operation by the end of this year. And our clothing factory should be built even earlier, because equipment procurement, debugging, and worker training all take time."

He suddenly turned to look at Secretary Yang and asked softly, "Uncle Yang, when our clothing factory is built, in addition to down jackets, we can also produce other styles of clothing.

Now I'll give you two choices: one is the kind sold in the commune's supply and marketing cooperative…"

He gestured as he spoke, "The ordinary clothes that you often wear, which cost a few yuan apiece. The other is the floral shirts and bell-bottoms in big cities that you have to pull strings to buy, which cost dozens of yuan apiece.

Which kind of clothes would you like the clothing factory to produce?"

Secretary Yang was immediately conflicted when he heard this.

Choose the first one?

It's simple and unadorned, but the income is even simpler and more unadorned.

Choose the second one?

Earning this money feels a bit uneasy!

Seeing that he didn't speak, Chen Fan looked at the others.

Well, Captain Xiao, Captain Zhang, and Captain Ye were all frowning in thought.

This question, which wouldn't even require a second thought in later generations, had actually become the first "problem" facing them since Lujiawan developed its side businesses!

Zhang Wenliang stretched his neck, wanting to say a few words, but when he turned his gaze to Chen Fan, he saw Chen Fan gently shaking his head.

He was slightly stunned and could only swallow the words he wanted to say.

Chen Fan threw out a "problem" and then ignored it, raising his wine glass to drink with Captain Yang, and then asked, "How are those educated youth doing now?"

Captain Yang put down his wine glass, took a puff of his cigarette, looked at the filter tip with satisfaction, and said at the same time, "The province just issued a notice yesterday that this year's college entrance examination will be from July 20th to 22nd. There are only three weeks left, and they are all studying like crazy now."

After he finished speaking, he thought for a moment, raised his head to look at Chen Fan, and said softly, "Little Chen, if you have time, see if you can give them some extra tutoring. These students are very different from the educated youth of the past.

You know what the educated youth of the past were like without me having to tell you. If it were like that, I wouldn't say a word to you.

But these kids are really working hard. They usually work the same hours as the villagers, starting and ending work at the same time, and they put their study time in their spare time. During the slack season, they also go to the elementary school to help teach.

Putting everything else aside, just be empathetic. Looking at them working day and night like that, I feel a little sorry for them."

Chen Fan pursed his lips, pondered for two seconds, and nodded lightly, "Okay."

Whether they are sincere or just putting on a show, being able to do this much is considered to be intentional. Since Captain Yang has already opened his mouth, what harm is there in giving them a hand?