Reborn in 1977

No matter how far the road, there would be a time to reach the destination. Even if Jiang Lili was unwilling, the two arrived at Team 10.

While still on the riverbank, Chen Fan noticed the differences between Team 10 and the other teams.

He had been to Teams 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. Except for Team 5, which was the brigade headquarters and had a row of brick houses, the other teams were almost entirely made up of mud-walled houses, just of varying sizes.

The largest was Team 5, with a total of 53 households including the brick houses, and the smallest was Team 9, with only 29 households. Team 6, with 47 houses, was the largest besides Team 5.

However, although there were many houses, they were all ordinary residences, with only a slightly larger livestock shed.

At the entrance of Team 10, there was an open space nearly the size of three basketball courts, which was rare in Lujiawan.

On the east and west sides of the open space were rows of long brick houses, which was another major difference.

Jiang Lili stood beside him, pointing to the two rows of brick houses and saying, "The ones on the west side are the oil press and the mill, and the ones on the east side are the purchasing station, the consignment shop, and the cotton gin."

Chen Fan looked down at them from his vantage point, "Oh, it's quite impressive."

After a pause, he asked in confusion, "I seem to remember that these sideline businesses are usually located near the brigade headquarters. Why is Lujiawan so far away from the brigade headquarters?"

Jiang Lili smiled and said, "I heard that when they wanted to start the sideline businesses, Team Leader Xiao said that if the sideline businesses were located at the brigade headquarters, the teams in the south would be fine, but the teams in the north would have a hard time. It would take more than two hours to get there, and another two hours to get back, which is unreasonable.

But if it was located in the middle, the teams in the south could go to the commune anyway, since it's close to the commune, and the teams in the north could walk less. Secretary Yang and Team Leader Zhang agreed with him, so it was finally decided to be located in Team 10."

Chen Fan nodded in understanding, "Indeed, he's a good leader who considers the people."

In fact, the cadres of the brigade headquarters were not even company-level cadres, but they were much better than many leading cadres in later generations.

The two went down the slope on the riverbank. Before they even entered the village, two dogs ran out and looked at them. Jiang Lili immediately tensed up, staring at the dogs without blinking.

Chen Fan glanced at her and smiled, "It's okay, I'm here."

Then, without calling out, he made a "tsst, tsst, tsst" sound at the dogs. The dogs straightened their necks and paused, then their tails started wagging, and they slowly turned around and ran back.

Jiang Lili looked at him with admiration, "You're amazing. I'm afraid to move when I see dogs."

Chen Fan laughed and walked inside carrying the load, "If you encounter a dog by yourself in the future and it stares at you, you can also make this 'tsst, tsst, tsst' sound, with the tip of your tongue against the bottom of your teeth. This is a sound to tease dogs, indicating that you like them very much. It works for big dogs, small dogs, family dogs, and strange dogs."

Jiang Lili followed beside him, "Really?"

Chen Fan quickly added, "If it doesn't work, it's probably a vicious dog. You have to quickly find something to hold in your hand, and if the dog rushes over, hit it hard immediately."

Jiang Lili nodded seriously, "Okay, I understand."

Soon they walked to the open space. Chen Fan looked around and walked towards the cotton gin.

These two rows of brick houses were probably more than 20 meters long and were divided into three rooms each. The ones on the left were the oil press and the mill, and there was also a warehouse. The ones on the right were the purchasing station, the consignment shop, and the cotton gin.

How did he know?

The signs hanging at the door said so.

Walking into the cotton gin, there was a cotton ginning machine right inside the door. The wooden parts outnumbered the iron parts, making it look very old.

But there was no one here. Chen Fan turned his head and saw that there was another room inside.

He put the load down in the corner and continued to walk inside. As soon as he reached the door, he saw a large wooden board bed about two meters by two meters. On the opposite wall hung a roll of white cotton batting, and against the back wall were tools such as a cotton ginning bow and a bow hammer. Beside the partition wall was a long table with three drawers.

Someone was sitting at the table with their eyes closed, resting. Hearing the movement at the door, they slowly opened their eyes, then yawned and asked the two, "Ginning cotton or carding cotton?"

Everyone knew what carding cotton was, which was using a cotton ginning bow to make the raw cotton fluffier, so that it could be used to make cotton quilts and cotton-padded jackets.

Ginning cotton was the process of separating the cotton seeds from the cotton fibers by pressing the picked cotton. The separated cotton fibers were raw cotton.

Chen Fan pointed to the load outside and said with a smile, "Hello, Master, I'm here to card cotton and make a few cotton waddings."

The man got up and walked to the door, looked at the cotton in the baskets, and couldn't help but be a little surprised, "Isn't this about twenty or thirty pounds?"

Usually, people who came to make cotton wadding would bring four or six pounds of raw cotton. His two baskets were five or six times more than others, so how could he not be surprised?

Chen Fan smiled, "There's a little more cotton, so I'm carding it all together."

The man looked up at him, then looked at Jiang Lili, who was a little restrained beside him, and his eyes darted around, "You're that educated youth, aren't you?"

Jiang Lili nodded lightly, "Yes, hello."

The man looked at Chen Fan again, and his expression suddenly changed, "Could you be Master Chen?"

Chen Fan blinked, "Do you know me?"

As soon as the man heard this, he immediately beamed with joy, "Oh, it's really you."

Then he explained, "Now, there aren't many people in Lujiawan who don't know you. They all say you're a great person."

Me?

A great person?

Chen Fan had an awkward smile on his face, "No, no."

If this were decades later, saying that someone was a good person upon meeting them, it would be hard to tell whether it was a compliment or an insult.

This topic was not good to talk about, so he turned to ask, "May I ask your surname, Master?"

The man said with a smile, "My surname is Huang. I'm the cotton carder here, and I also manage the cotton ginning machine. You can just call me Old Huang."

Chen Fan greeted again, "Master Huang."

Cotton Carder Huang laughed, "Master Chen wants to make cotton wadding?"

Chen Fan, "Ah, yes, there are thirty pounds of cotton here. I want to make it all into cotton wadding. How long do you think it will take?"

Cotton Carder Huang said without hesitation, "That depends on how many pounds you want to make."

Chen Fan immediately looked at Jiang Lili.

How would he know how many pounds of cotton quilt to make?

Jiang Lili said "Oh" and quickly said, "Make quilts of 4 pounds and 6 pounds."

Cotton Carder Huang looked at the baskets, "Isn't there about 30 pounds here?"

Chen Fan nodded, "Exactly 30 pounds."

Cotton Carder Huang, "That's a total of 6 quilts. Today is Monday, you can come and pick them up on Thursday."

The market day was Sunday, so Thursday would definitely be fine.

Chen Fan nodded, "Okay."

After a pause, he asked again, "How much will it cost in total?"

Cotton Carder Huang raised his head and smiled, "2 mao per pound, which is 6 yuan in total. This is the public price, and I can't waive your bill, but I can guarantee that I will use the best cotton batting to help you make the cotton wadding."

Chen Fan quickly cupped his hands, "Thank you, thank you, that's very good."

Jiang Lili took out the prepared money and handed it to him. Chen Fan took it and gave it to Cotton Carder Huang. Cotton Carder Huang saw this scene and couldn't help but have a strange look in his eyes.

But he didn't say much. He took the money and walked to the long table, opened the drawer and threw the money in, took out a stack of receipts, opened it and took a piece of carbon paper and clipped it in, and wrote a receipt.

He kept the original and tore off the copy and handed it to Chen Fan, "Master Chen, you can take this receipt to pick up the goods when the time comes."

Chen Fan smiled and took it, and was about to say goodbye and leave when Jiang Lili thought of something and said softly, "Master Huang, this quilt is prepared by Chen, Master Chen, to be sold at the market, so it's not good to write his name."

Chen Fan's eyes were dazed, write the name on the cotton wadding?

What does that mean?

Cotton Carder Huang nodded and smiled when he heard this, "Understood."

Then he turned to look at Chen Fan and laughed, "Then I'll write a double '囍' for you, everyone likes it."

Chen Fan smiled and cupped his hands, "Thank you for your trouble."

Cotton Carder Huang waved his hand, "It's nothing, just a small effort, it's not hard."

Coming out of the cotton gin, Chen Fan looked at Jiang Lili in confusion, "What does it mean to write on the cotton wadding?"

Jiang Lili smiled and said softly, "It's using colored cotton thread to arrange the shape of the characters on the cotton wadding, and then covering it with cotton batting to fix it, which is equivalent to marking the cotton wadding."

Chen Fan suddenly understood, "So it can be like this?!"