Reborn in 1977

Chapter 698 I'm Not Going

December 26th, Tuesday.

The heavy snow that had fallen for several days finally stopped, but the sky hadn't cleared up yet. There were many people sweeping snow on the streets, all of whom were neighborhood residents organized by the neighborhood committee doing voluntary snow removal.

Although Chen Fan was the homeowner, he hadn't interacted with the people from the neighborhood committee. However, Jiang Tiantian and Jiang Lili knew them.

But today, both sisters went to school. When the neighborhood committee staff came over, only Chen Fan received them, so they met today.

There was nothing else, just mobilizing the neighborhood to clear the snow on the roads, dividing responsibility sections according to houses. It was a case of everyone sweeping the snow in front of their own door.

After seeing off the old comrade who came to notify him, Chen Fan first opened the courtyard door, then turned back into the house, picked up the keys, and went to start the car.

Zhou Yali, wrapped in a fur coat, saw that he was about to get into the car and quickly called out, "Aren't you going to sweep the snow? Are you going out now? I haven't changed my clothes yet."

Chen Fan sat in the driver's seat and smiled at her slightly, "I'm going to shovel snow."

Then he slowly drove the car out, "The snow has been accumulating for three days without being swept. Although cars have passed by, it's only the middle section. The road surface on both sides has also formed a layer of ice underneath. If that layer of ice isn't broken up, it won't be easy to shovel."

Zhou Yali quickly changed her shoes and ran out to watch the excitement.

On the street, some people were already using iron shovels to vigorously shovel the snow and throw it onto the sidewalk. At first, they were all wrapped in thick cotton coats, but after working for a while, they took off their cotton coats, wearing only sweaters or cotton vests, their bodies steaming with heat as they worked.

Chen Fan drove his car onto the street and, under the surprised gazes of everyone, slammed on the accelerator and started drifting.

In this era, there were no professional anti-skid chains. Those were iron chains tied to the tires. The car tires repeatedly rolled over the snow, immediately scattering the thick snow and crushing the hard ice layers underneath. The chains occasionally sparked a string of sparks.

An old man next to him curiously walked over, shoveled with his iron shovel, and was immediately surprised, "Oh, the ice is broken, it's easy to shovel now."

He immediately lit up and shouted at Chen Fan, who had stopped, "Little comrade, I'll help you sweep this area. Can you help me roll over this ice too?"

Chen Fan turned his head when he heard the sound, looked at the old man, whose face was quite kind, and smiled, "Sure, step aside a little, I'm coming."

Then he slammed on the accelerator and drove over, once again playing a drifting game in place.

This time, the others around also discovered a treasure, and they all wanted to trade with Chen Fan.

The old man from the neighborhood committee, who hadn't gone far, looked at it, wanting to say something but stopping. Would this way of playing damage the road surface?

But seeing everyone's happy appearance, he turned his head and trotted to other places to notify them, pretending he didn't see it anyway.

These were all neighbors nearby. In the 1970s, being able to live in this kind of small western-style building didn't seem like ordinary families. Since it was just a small effort, Chen Fan readily agreed.

He simply drove the car and rolled over this small section of road several times.

The consequence was that he didn't personally shovel snow, but he ruined a set of tires.

The neighbors were also unambiguous, prioritizing clearing the road in front of Chen Fan's door. By the time he greeted them and drove back to the yard, the responsible road surface was clean.

Pushing the door and getting out of the car, Chen Fan stretched his body, "I'm still a little excited."

Zhou Yali stood by and watched the whole process, "You didn't move."

Chen Fan, "Why didn't I move? Don't you need strength to turn the steering wheel and step on the accelerator and brake?"

Zhou Yali exhaled a white mist and said earnestly, "Old brother, how did you manage to get a group of old people to sweep the streets for you?"

Chen Fan stuck his neck out, "I also helped them loosen the ice on the street."

Zhou Yali was silent for two seconds and said, "I suddenly understand what you said yesterday about businessmen."

Chen Fan blinked, "Tell me your experience."

Zhou Yali raised her fist, clenched it hard, and her eyes were full of determination, "It's just that you must not be ashamed!"

Chen Fan was silent for two seconds, then gently patted her shoulder, "Not bad, I consider you qualified."

Zhou Yali, "…"

Chen Fan didn't take it seriously. Back then, when Master Lin Yuanxiang went to Lujiawan to examine him, the most important reason for finally deciding to accept him as his successor was because he wasn't a pushover.

Pushovers like to meddle in other people's business, and meddling in too much business can easily cause trouble. This kind of person is not suitable for martial arts.

And Chen Fan has always considered himself not a good person.

What's so good about being a good person? For example, today, if he took the initiative to help and voluntarily removed the ice for the neighbors without asking for anything in return, everyone around would recognize him as a great good person.

Then, when something happened again, they would definitely not leave him out. Even if he wasn't here, it wouldn't matter, wouldn't there still be two sisters here? They would turn around and spread the "task" on their heads.

In the future, it would be endless trouble.

Even if someone took a fancy to the two sisters in this frequent exchange, and something happened to them, there would be no place to cry at that time.

Don't forget, the next few years are not peaceful days.

Men are okay, but two beautiful girls showing their faces every day are simply natural targets.

He wouldn't let this kind of thing happen.

It's good like this now. He helped, and others gave back. On the surface, no one owes anyone anything. When something happens again, others won't think of him first.

As for the matter of ruining a set of tires, there's no need to say it. That would seem too calculating.

It's enough to leave a good relationship with the neighbors.

Stomping his feet to shake off some fine ice and snow, Chen Fan prepared to go into the house.

At this time, the bell of a bicycle rang, followed by a man's voice, "Telegram for Chen Fan."

The person who came was naturally the postman.

The postman comrade stopped at the door, lifted his leg and got off the car, propped up the bicycle stand to stabilize it, and then took out a telegram form and a parcel form from his mailbag, looked around, and handed them to Chen Fan, who was walking over, and smiled, "You cleaned your door pretty quickly. Other places are still shoveling snow, but it's clean here."

Chen Fan took the form and handed over a cigarette, laughing, "It's all thanks to the support of the neighbors."

The postman blinked, a little confused by his words.

Why, wouldn't people sweep their own responsible section and sweep yours first?

But he was busy delivering letters, so he didn't say much, waved his hand with the cigarette, "Unity is strength, I'm leaving."

After speaking, he rode away on his bicycle.

Chen Fan closed the courtyard door and then picked up the telegram to take a look.

Before he could see the content clearly, a head came over, "What is it? Who sent it to you?"

Chen Fan could only give way and then look at the form, "Sent from Lujiawan, saying that the equipment for the garment factory has arrived, and the first batch of raw materials provided by Yunhu Cotton Mill has also arrived. The factory has trial-produced a batch of down jackets. There are some problems with the first batch, and they are trying to find a way to improve them."

After reading it, he couldn't help but frown slightly. Was making a down jacket really that difficult?

The quality of down jackets these days definitely couldn't compare to those of later generations. Basically, as long as there wasn't any obvious problem with feathers escaping, it was considered up to standard.

Otherwise, how could the founder of Bosideng dare to make down jackets with just over a dozen people and household sewing machines?

Now, the various equipment in Lujiawan was complete, and there was even a pressing machine. Wasn't it a hundred times better than their village-run workshop?

Moreover, Chen Fan had already sorted out the production process of down jackets. Theoretically, as long as Liu Lu produced according to the process, even if there were some minor problems, she could succeed with a few more attempts.

Why couldn't it be done?

Zhou Yali also frowned and thought for a while when she heard his words, and then said, "Do you want me to send a telegram to Mommy and ask her to find an engineer who understands down jackets to come and guide us?"

Chen Fan looked at her, pondered for two seconds, and then gently shook his head, "No need. If we ask for outside help whenever there's a problem, they will develop a dependence and will never have much growth."

Then he smiled and looked at her and said, "We must learn from the veteran revolutionaries. If we don't have something, we'll make it ourselves. If we can't make it, we'll find a way. Only in this way can we form our own technical system from scratch, from existence to excellence, instead of relying on others."

As he spoke, he beckoned her to go into the house and continued, "Relying on the mountain, the mountain will fall; relying on the water, the water will flow. I have already paved the way for them and even prepared the equipment. If they can't even solve this little problem, then cutting losses as soon as possible is the right way."

"In the future, they can just focus on breeding and selling cooked food. They should extinguish their thoughts of any major industrial development as soon as possible, so as not to make everyone unhappy in the future."

Zhou Yali was still a little confused. She followed him into the house, put on cotton slippers, and closed the door. She asked curiously, "Why would it be unpleasant? Even if it doesn't succeed, we can just give up on this part. They wouldn't blame you, would they?"

Chen Fan looked back at her and smiled meaningfully, "Hehe, give them a pint, they'll want a peck. Some things are really hard to say."

Zhou Yali raised her eyebrows slightly, and after a moment, she sighed quietly, "No wonder my daddy always tells me to learn more from you. Bro, you are younger than me, but you understand more than me. It makes it difficult for me."

Chen Fan's face fell, "Who did you learn that from? It's difficult? If it's difficult, then don't do it."

As he spoke, he threw the telegram on the coffee table and went to look at the parcel slip. As soon as his butt touched the sofa, he stood up with a whoop, "Oh wow, is the efficiency so high?"

Zhou Yali hopped over in a few steps, leaned close to him, and stretched her head to look, "What is it?"

Chen Fan handed her the parcel slip and turned to change his clothes, "Mountain goods sent from the Northeast. I thought it would be a few days later, but I didn't expect it to arrive so quickly. I'm going to pick up the goods now. Are you going?"

Zhou Yali's eyes rolled slightly, she raised her head and grinned, "You're going to the post office to pick up the package. There must be a lot of people there. I won't add to the trouble."

Just kidding, you said that the things sent were mountain goods, so there must be many big packages. I don't have that much strength to carry them. I'm relying on you, bro!

She said she wouldn't go, and Chen Fan didn't care. He put on his cotton coat and walked out, "That's good. After receiving the mountain goods, I'll pick two things to take to Old Ba, so you don't have to go out to buy gifts."

As soon as he finished speaking, he went out the door.

Zhou Yali trotted to the door, just as she was about to reach out to call out, she saw the small bread van rush out with a biu sound, and she could only mutter, "Tires."

Bang…

Chen Fan drove onto the road, and before he had gone far, one of the tires blew out.

The old men who were sweeping snow and talking loudly were stunned at once. They first looked at the small bread van lying in the middle of the road, then looked at each other, and each shrank their necks and hurried to work.

Chen Fan couldn't help but click his tongue. There was no way, he could only get out of the car to change the tire.

Taking out the jack, without needing anyone's help, he replaced the blown tire and removed the anti-skid chains. Only then did he start cautiously… to the Writers Association office.

Originally, the nearest repair shop should have been the nearby bus depot. Moreover, with the favor of asking the Director of the Transportation Bureau for a note when the Jiang sisters learned to drive last time, changing a tire was just a small matter.

Unfortunately, it was estimated that only the Writers Association office in the whole of Shanghai had tires for this kind of bread van. That was, only Chen Fan had this kind of face. When he bought the car, in addition to the standard accessories, Director Yang also gave the car a lot of extra accessories, including 10 tires.

Otherwise, he would have to transfer goods from the factory, which would be really miserable.

Soon he arrived at the Writers Association, first went to the motorcade to change tires, and took advantage of this free time, he turned and went to the office building.

Greeting people along the way, he went straight to Old Ba's office.

Peeking at the door, he saw that only Old Ba was in the office. He was lying on the desk writing something.

Chen Fan knocked on the door. When Old Ba raised his head, he grinned and entered the door, "Are you writing a new book, old man?"

When Old Ba saw that it was him, he put down his pen and took off his glasses, and said with a smile, "It turns out to be you, little monkey. Are you here in Shanghai again to see your little wife?"

Chen Fan closed the door smoothly, picked up a teacup to pour tea himself, then pulled out a chair and sat opposite him, and smiled, "Can't I come to see you?"

"Hmph, stop trying to fool me."

Old Ba looked him up and down, "You came to see me empty-handed like this?"

Chen Fan held the teacup in both hands, his face was serious, "What are you saying? With the relationship between us, is there any need to bring anything?"

Old Ba laughed and pointed at him, "You kid, your skin is still so thick."

Then he took out a cigarette and threw it on the table, "Take it yourself."

He himself picked up the teacup, leaned back on the chair, took a sip of water, and looked at Chen Fan and said, "I've heard about the cooperation between the Jiangnan Province Writers Association and the Japanese Takahashi Publishing House. Now the General Association has determined the cooperation plan and has consulted with Takahashi Company many times to clarify the plan."

"The first thing is to hold two cultural exchange activities. Your book is selling quite well in Japan, isn't it? It has been reprinted twice, and you can be considered a writer with a little fame."

"In addition, there are several authors from Jiangnan who have also published novels there and tried the waters, and the results are not bad."

"Today I also talked to the General Association on the phone and initially finalized that the first batch of candidates to go for exchange will be you guys. You have to do this preparation work well."

Chen Fan was lighting a cigarette, and he was stunned when he heard this, "Go abroad for exchange? With me?"

He frowned suddenly, "Forget it, I won't go."