Reborn in 1977

Chapter 673: Each with Their Own Worries

December 11th, Monday, Lunar November 12th?

Chen Fan was curled up on the heated brick bed, sound asleep.

Since he no longer had to get up early to exercise, this was the first time he had slept in. The joy of lazing in bed was truly unimaginable to those who woke up early.

Snuggled under the covers, snoring loudly, Chen Fan didn't know what time it was. He vaguely heard the sound of someone knocking on the glass window, and it seemed like someone was calling him?

He didn't even open his eyes, only twitching his ears, and heard someone knocking on the window outside the bedroom.

Judging by the sound, it seemed like Old He?

Only then did he wake up, throw off the covers, put on his cotton coat, get out of bed, walk to the window, and pull back the curtains. Sure enough, he saw He Qingsheng's old face.

He was still shouting loudly, "What time is it? Still sleeping?"

Chen Fan blinked, "What time is it?"

He Qingsheng was speechless, raising his wrist and pointing his watch at him, "It's almost 11 o'clock. Open the door."

After speaking, he walked forward.

Chen Fan yawned and casually closed the curtains. Yes, this would keep the warmth in.

Then, he shuffled out the door and opened the front door.

He Qingsheng shivered as he walked in, muttering, "Snowing isn't as cold as when the snow melts. The snow stopped today, and the sun came out, but it's even colder than the past few days."

When he followed Chen Fan into the study, he instantly relaxed, looking around, "Why is it so warm in your room?"

Chen Fan walked behind the desk and sat down, opened a drawer, took out a pack of cigarettes, pulled one out and handed it to him, then pushed the red sandalwood ashtray out, "I had a heated brick bed built, of course it's warm."

He Qingsheng pulled out a chair and sat down, looked at the ashtray in front of him, then turned to look at the large heated brick bed that was almost the size of a small house. A mouthful of complaints was stuck in his throat, and he didn't know where to start.

Chen Fan lit a cigarette and pushed the matchbox in front of him, asking, "What's wrong?"

He Qingsheng shook his head, pondered for two seconds, and asked, "When did you have someone build the heated brick bed?"

Chen Fan smoked his cigarette, "I asked Manager Huang. Oh, that's Huang Tianzhi from the original Housing Management Office. He's been transferred to the construction company as a project manager. He's one of the people in charge of our area and the small residential area under construction next door.

I asked him for help, and it was built in half a day. It's very useful."

He Qingsheng lit a cigarette, "I'll go find him later and have one built in my house."

Saying that, he picked up the ashtray and carefully examined it, put it down, and looked up at Chen Fan, "Don't tell me, this ashtray is also made of red sandalwood?"

Chen Fan chuckled, "Of course. Several thousand for furniture, wouldn't using red sandalwood be worth the price? Oh, right…"

As he spoke, he picked up a small wooden box from the corner of the table, gently flicked it, and the lid opened. Inside was a box of cigarettes, "There's also a red sandalwood cigarette case here. Red sandalwood is moisture-proof. The humidity is heavy by the lake, so storing cigarettes keeps them from getting damp."

He Qingsheng was already speechless. After a moment, he shook his head and sighed, "When it comes to money, we aren't short of it, but none of us dare to show it off like you do."

Chen Fan snorted twice, his eyes full of worry, sighing, "I don't want to either, but Takahashi Publishing House gave me $300,000 in manuscript fees before and after. If I don't take some out to spend, I'm afraid people will covet it."

The most outrageous thing was that he didn't even have to pay taxes now, so the money became net income, which made him a little embarrassed.

Well, although China had initially established tax laws as early as the 1950s, which included manuscript income, no one had ever collected it in decades.

That's right, it wasn't that no one paid, but that no one collected it. When the tax law was first promulgated, many old writers took the initiative to pay taxes, but the people in the tax department discussed it with furrowed brows for a long time, and finally informed them that the specific rules for how to collect the tax on manuscript income had not yet been determined, so it was postponed.

Then, until now, no one has ever paid this tax.

It wasn't until the 1990s, when the state rectified taxation and emphasized the collection of individual income tax, that manuscript income was included.

Therefore, Chen Fan didn't know who to go to to pay this tax, and no one came to find him either.

He Qingsheng frowned slightly when he heard him talk about income, looked at him and said, "But how do I remember that you didn't spend any money to buy this house, or this room full of red sandalwood furniture? It seems like it was recorded in the unit's accounts and offset with salary and bonuses, right?"

Chen Fan coughed lightly and said sternly, "That's not important, as long as others don't know."

He Qingsheng waved his hand helplessly, looked at him and said, "Don't worry about people coveting your money. As long as they still want to earn foreign manuscript fees, no one will dare to offend you.

So, you should hurry up and pack up, go to the capital and talk to your uncle, and then persuade your cousin to agree to cooperate with us. As long as everyone can see the hope of making money, and there are more people making money, who will covet your little bit of money?!"

Chen Fan leaned back in his chair, flicked the ash, and smiled, "My flight is at two o'clock in the afternoon, it's no use me going too early."

He looked at the small clock on the bookshelf next to him. Well, he bought this himself at the department store, purely for looks, and to check the time.

It was exactly 11 o'clock now. He turned his head and said, "There are still more than three hours. It's enough for me to leave an hour early. I can wash my face and brush my teeth later, and cook a meal myself, saving money and being healthy."

He Qingsheng shook his head helplessly, "You really aren't in a hurry at all."

Then he said, "My old wife is cooking, so don't cook yourself later. Just go to my place and eat something."

Chen Fan shook his head directly, "No, you two are having a family reunion with your grandson, it's not appropriate for me to go. Anyway, it's not troublesome, I'll just make something."

Seeing that he didn't agree, He Qingsheng didn't try to persuade him anymore, silently smoking his cigarette, thinking about the issue of "cultural export and literary foreign exchange".

After dealing with Hideo Takahashi for half a year, he also had a certain understanding and experience of this matter.

Generally speaking, domestic serious literature occupies the mainstream, focusing on the pursuit of literary and artistic qualities, and deeply exploring social phenomena and human nature through the shaping of stories and characters.

Compared with popular literature that pursues fun, entertainment, and even making money, it firmly occupies the high ground. Popular literature can only "survive in the cracks", silently making money.

Ahem, although the words aren't pleasant, that's the reality.

Serious literary works that can sell more than 100,000 copies are already very rare achievements, and can be called masterpieces. Even the literary magazines of major provincial journals sell only about 300,000 to 500,000 copies per issue.

And the "Storytelling" magazine that publishes popular literature sells more than one million copies per issue, which is not even in the same league.

Looking at the book market in Japan, the situation is basically similar to that in China.

Therefore, under the background of "cultural export and literary foreign exchange", this project may need to be divided into two issues to consider.

How should cultural export be done, and what should literary foreign exchange do?!

Thinking of these questions, he couldn't help but have a headache.

Just then, Chen Fan suddenly said, "By the way, there's something I need to tell you in advance."

He Qingsheng raised his head and looked at him, "What is it?"

Chen Fan sighed and shook his head, with a feeling that if he, Mr. Chen, hadn't been born, the literary world would have been like a long night forever, "Yesterday, when I went to turn in my homework, the teacher thought I was gifted and knowledgeable, so he wanted me to stay and teach at the school…"

"What?"

Before he could finish speaking, He Qingsheng interrupted him with a cry of surprise, "You? Stay and teach at the school?"

Chen Fan pursed his lips and nodded lightly, "Yes."

He Qingsheng's eyes twitched, and he looked at him with a strange expression, "I'm telling you, you can raise any opinions directly, there's no need to be like this. Oh, and the day before yesterday, you proposed to increase manpower, and Xiao Xu has already had Xiao Duan supplement a document, and I have signed it and agreed. You can just add your signature when you come back."

Saying that, he took a puff of cigarette and tapped his finger on the table, "In short, you can safely and securely build up the foreign liaison department for me. After it's done, I will arrange for Xiao Duan to take over as the director of the foreign liaison department, and you can be a mascot like Old Tan.

At that time, your wish will be fulfilled. How does that saying go?"

He Qingsheng looked up, lost in thought, "Oh, high salary, little work, close to home, high position, light responsibility, is that what it is?"

Chen Fan looked at him expressionlessly, "So, you don't believe what I said?"

He Qingsheng chuckled twice, "How can you make me believe it? You only enrolled in April, and it's only December, and you're telling me that Old Xu wants to arrange for you to stay and teach at the school, and you're still studying for a master's degree.

A master's degree takes at least three years, not to mention that Old Xu is particularly strict. Now you're saying this, if you were yourself, would you believe it?"

Chen Fan sighed faintly, "I don't want to believe it either, but, as a genius like me, I just happened to get the teacher's approval, and it just so happened that the school was short of teachers, so getting this opportunity should be very reasonable, right?"

Hearing this, He Qingsheng was stunned.

The lack of teachers in schools is not only a problem for Jiangda, but also a realistic problem faced by most universities across the country.

There's no way around it. In recent years, many old professors and lecturers have passed away one after another due to poor health.

Cough, cough, regardless of the reason for his poor health, the cause of death was definitely this.

In addition, the cultivation of reserve talents in recent years has been insufficient, or rather, nonexistent, so the emergence of a talent gap is very reasonable.

Against this background, if Chen Fan can really pass Xu Lao's assessment... So what he said is true?

He Qingsheng widened his eyes, "Are you kidding me?"

Chen Fan glanced at him, silently smoking a cigarette, "Would I dare to joke about my teacher?"

He Qingsheng was immediately dumbfounded, "Then what should we do?"

Then he quickly asked, "Did you agree?"

Chen Fan shrugged, "Not really. The teacher said that even if I want to stay at the school, I won't start working until September next year, so he told me to think about it carefully."

He Qingsheng frowned deeply.

At first, he brought Chen Fan into the Provincial Writers Association and gave him the position of Director of the European and American Division of the External Liaison Department. First of all, Chen Fan, as a rising star in the literary world of the province, and even a unique flower, was a necessary choice to bring him into the association.

As for the director of that division, it was actually because no one dared to take over at the time. After all, they were not people in the diplomatic system and could take orders for granted.

The Writers Association is a group of literati, but they only followed the general association and set up this department. At that time, no one knew what the future would be like, would there be another cold snap?!

So even if there was only a slight possibility, no one was willing to be associated with Europe and the United States, even a virtual department without any action.

But it wouldn't work if there was no one. He Qingsheng thought about it, until he thought of Chen Fan, and felt that young people should be bolder, so he tried to persuade him, and then he tricked Chen Fan onto the ship.

It can't be said that he deliberately tricked people. In fact, he was even prepared to take responsibility himself, but that was a last resort. It would be best if someone could take the lead.

In case there was an accident, the branch would also follow the steps of the general association, and the hammer would not fall on the head of the branch.

In retrospect, he could still maneuver around and be confident that he could get Chen Fan out, at least to ensure his safe return.

But he didn't expect that after Chen Fan entered the Writers Association, he actually did a good job and opened up channels for communication with foreign countries.

Now is not the same as a year ago, and many things have become clear.

Take the European and American Division as an example. This year, there have been many exchanges between the higher authorities and Western countries, especially the Western big brother, the United States, which has frequent exchanges with China, and even agreed to China's request to send students abroad.

Sending students abroad, this attitude is obvious enough!

It's likely that diplomatic relations will be established in the next year or two.

So at this time, the External Liaison Department is no longer a forbidden area that everyone avoids, but has become a sweet pastry.

This time, the Writers Association officially elected the third presidium and council. In fact, some people wanted to take over the External Liaison Department, but He Qingsheng blocked them all.

On the one hand, you can't say that you pull people in to fill the gap in an emergency, and then let people move positions when there are benefits. There is no such reason in the world.

On the other hand, Chen Fan is indeed the best candidate to be in charge of the External Liaison Department, at least for now.

Afterwards, he and Tan Yong worked together to use the correspondence center and the "Literary Youth" magazine as the price to exchange for Chen Fan's vice-chairman and vice-chairman.

Otherwise, with Chen Fan's qualifications, even if he made great contributions, it would be almost enough to be promoted to the director of the External Liaison Department. There is no reason to be promoted by two levels in a row.

That was all exchanged with resources, and it just so happened that Chen Fan himself didn't care about these resources!

After it was done, He Qingsheng was still dreaming.

First, let Chen Fan make achievements in the External Liaison Department, and then let the External Liaison Department go, and exchange another batch of resources for him.

If his work is successful, he can be promoted further in the future, and maybe he will eventually have the opportunity to enter the ministry.

At that time, he, Lao He, will be satisfied.

What more could you ask for than cultivating a leading figure in the literary world?!

But he never expected that his plan had just begun, and someone would come to snatch people? The one who did it was Mr. Xu, who couldn't be scolded or touched.

Although Chen Fan said that he wanted to think about it carefully, Professor Xu had already spoken, and it was Jiang University, a key university directly under the Ministry of Education and famous throughout the country. This careful consideration was probably considering how to give lectures, right?

At this moment, the light disappeared from He Qingsheng's eyes. He was thinking in his heart, should he go to Professor Xu and cry and beg for mercy?!

...

Chen Fan didn't know that He Qingsheng had so many psychological activities. What he was thinking about was how to choose so that he wouldn't make the teacher feel uncomfortable and wouldn't affect his salted fish plan.

If he followed his own ideas, being a mascot like Tan Yong would be the best choice.

What External Liaison Department, what university professor, those are all fleeting clouds.

He has the fame he wants; the status he wants, not too high, the current one is completely enough; the money he wants, he has too much money to spend now, and as the new era is about to begin, there will only be more and more money in the future. On the road to getting rich, he will be far ahead and never look back.

Then what's the point of him tossing around?

Make a contribution?

Isn't developing Lujiawan, the automobile factory, and the machinery factory all making contributions? We didn't just eat for nothing.

Usually, he's a carefree person, and at critical moments, he gives a push, which is convenient for both public and private purposes. This is Chen Fan's ideal life.

But if he enters the university, it will be different. Not only will he have to attend classes, but in the future, he will probably have to supervise graduate students and do research projects. This kind of thing cannot be done by others.

Thinking of the days of being so busy that he was flying around, Chen Fan felt a little depressed.

So, in the study, two people sat opposite each other, each depressed.

...

After a while, the two sighed together.

Hearing the other party's sigh, the two came back to their senses.

Chen Fan quickly threw away the cigarette butt that was about to burn his fingers, took out two more, lit them and said, "Uncle He, I remember the teacher just said that he wanted me to work part-time as a teacher at the university. Aren't they all full-time these days? How can there be part-time teachers?"

Hearing this, He Qingsheng's eyes suddenly lit up, and he looked at him and said, "Did Xu Lao really say that?"

Chen Fan nodded, "That's what he said. He said that being a teacher wouldn't affect my position in the Writers Association, but the teacher also said that it would be best for me to transfer my work and concentrate on teaching and research."

He Qingsheng let out a long breath, took a puff of cigarette, and said with a smile, "In that case, my suggestion is that you should consider being a part-time professor first."

After a pause, he explained, "More than 20 years ago, Mr. Ye Shengtao worked as a part-time professor at the university as an editor of a publishing house, which started the precedent of outsiders entering the school as professors.

After that, most of the famous writers were invited to give lectures at the school, and some of them were also awarded the title of professor, but this trend was later interrupted by external forces.

The school couldn't even stabilize full-time professors, so how could they care about part-time professors?!"

He flicked the cigarette ash, looked at Chen Fan and smiled, "When you just said this, I thought Xu Lao wanted you to transfer your unit and become a full-time teacher. Since he mentioned part-time teachers, you might as well try it first.

Otherwise, with your current level, the school will have to evaluate you as a level 4 full professor at the very least, otherwise it will be a demotion. If you are transferred, not to mention promotion, it will be at least the same level. There is no reason to be demoted.

But you are too young, and evaluating the title of professor will mostly bring controversy.

But there is no such problem in the Writers Association, so, what I mean is this, first be a part-time teacher and see what happens in the future."

Full professors are divided into four levels, and level four is equivalent to the treatment of a deputy director, level three corresponds to the director level, and level one corresponds to the ministerial level. If Chen Fan really agrees to go to the school, with his teacher watching, plus his own talent, he may be promoted faster than in the Writers Association.

However, as long as he doesn't immediately transfer units, there is room for maneuver. As for what happens in the future, things will take their course. Of course, that will be discussed later.

After listening to He Qingsheng's explanation, Chen Fan nodded thoughtfully, "I see."

He really didn't know much about this before. Even if Professor Xu said he could work part-time, he didn't understand the details, and now he understands that there was a precedent.

Then he has more room to choose.

Then he raised his head and smiled, "I remember what you said. It's still early to make a decision, we'll talk about it then."

He Qingsheng nodded, "This matter does need to be carefully considered, but as far as I am concerned, I definitely hope you stay."

Chen Fan laughed, "I understand, I won't just leave casually."

After smoking this cigarette, He Qingsheng got up to say goodbye, and did not forget to tell him when he left, "Go over earlier, don't miss the plane."

Chen Fan waved his hand, "I won't be late."