Reborn in 1977

Chapter 10: And There's a Decimal Point?

He didn't recognize any of the large group of women, although a few looked vaguely familiar, probably from having watched the excitement in the courtyard that morning.

Chen Fan grinned and greeted them politely, "Ah, fetching water."

Then he squatted down again, striving and forging ahead... He hoisted the buckets and started walking.

Just over ninety pounds, that's all. Come on, you can do it!

Then he swayed with each step as he walked uphill.

Even though he was already bearing a weight far beyond his capacity, he couldn't escape being mocked as he passed the group of women.

"Oh, your buckets aren't full. Not even half full."

"You should fill the buckets to eighty percent. You'll waste energy running back and forth."

"Why are you grabbing the handles? You need to grab the rope. Don't use force, just hold on."

"Little scholar, you need to eat more. Three big bowls per meal to have the strength to work."

"Looks tall, but it turns out he's just for show."

"If he went to the fields with that physique, he'd probably earn a maximum of five work points a day."

"I'm afraid he won't be able to help when Huang Laosi's family builds a house in a few days."

"Who said that? He can help with the eating."

If he were a young man, he would probably be blushing and ashamed now.

But Chen Fan was already an old hand. Not to mention the years he had spent in the workplace, where he could take the scolding of customers and the questioning of bosses without batting an eye. Even before, in the orphanage, he had heard plenty of sarcastic remarks. This was nothing!

Not worth mentioning!

However, some people spoke up for him.

"He's a scholar. Do you think he's like you, illiterate and only knowing how to use brute force?"

"He's just like that Zhao cadre who came down last year. He's not as good as you at working, but you're not as good as him at writing."

Then the topic started to drift.

"Hey, hey, do you think there will be more cadres coming down next year?"

"Who knows? If you get a good cadre, they can stay for two or three years. If you get a bad one, you can change two or three in a year. If it's that kind, I'd rather they didn't come."

"If you get a good cadre, there are still benefits. Wasn't that Fan cadre a few years ago like that? He led everyone to work together and even gave Captain Yang private lessons. Otherwise, how could Captain Yang have been promoted so quickly?"

"That's true, that's true."

"Anyway, we'll know after the New Year when the spring plowing starts. Cadres will definitely be sent for the spring plowing, even if there isn't a permanent one, there will be a temporary one."

...

Chen Fan clenched his teeth and took each step steadily up the hillside. His shoulders were already aching unbearably, and he had no time to listen to their gossip.

Even though he was wearing a cotton coat, which was like a protective layer, he had never carried water before and didn't know the slightest bit about the technique. Not only did his shoulders hurt, but the carrying pole was also disobedient and always wanted to escape.

His body after the transmigration seemed to be very weak. His skin and flesh had become tender. Thinking about his constitution of 6 and strength of 5, he was probably on par with Lin Daiyu, yet he had to carry a load of nearly a hundred pounds.

What kind of sin had he committed!

Moreover, being on the hillside, there was no place to put down the buckets, so he naturally couldn't switch shoulders. He could only grit his teeth and try to speed up his pace, panting as he climbed up the embankment.

As soon as he reached the embankment, he quickly put down the buckets and reached out to rub his shoulders. It really burned with pain.

Chen Fan gasped for breath, secretly sighing that this body was useless.

Even if he worked in an office in his previous life, carrying this load of water wouldn't have tired him out like this. Did he transmigrate for the better or for the worse?

If he said it was for the better, his physique was not as good as in his previous life. If he said it was for the worse, he had become younger, and despite just recovering from a serious illness, the feeling of vitality was undeniable.

There was no other way. He could only wait until he completed the task and see if there was a reward for increasing his constitution or strength.

Otherwise, he would have to put training and fitness on the agenda and find a way to quickly build up his body.

After catching his breath, he switched shoulders and continued.

This time it was downhill, and downhill was much harder than uphill.

Carrying a load of water, he moved down little by little, afraid that he wouldn't stand firm and would tumble down, with both himself and the buckets ruined.

With great difficulty, he moved to the bottom of the slope, and Chen Fan quickly put it down again and switched shoulders again.

Finally, in the short distance of 50 meters, he switched 3 times. It really took half his life, and he finally carried the water into the yard.

As soon as he entered the yard gate, he put down the buckets. He would carry them the rest of the way in the yard. His shoulders were burning with pain, and he really couldn't bear it anymore.

First, he leaned the carrying pole against the wall, and when he turned around, he saw two bamboo tripods set up in the yard. A bamboo pole was laid across the tripods, and a cotton quilt was draped over it, fluttering in the wind.

It looked like the quilt he had slept on?

Next to it, two benches supported two bamboo poles, and a bamboo mat was spread out on the poles. A thick layer of straw was spread on top, and then pressed down by two bamboo poles to prevent it from being blown away by the wind.

At this time, Jiang Lili came out from the corner of the kitchen, also carrying a pair of empty buckets on her shoulders. When she saw Chen Fan, she first smiled stiffly, and then said, "You sweated a lot last night, and the mat and quilt were wet, so I took them out to dry."

Chen Fan quickly nodded, "Oh, oh, thank you!"

Was it really his?

After a pause, he became curious again, "Whose quilt is this?"

Jiang Lili walked over and said softly, "Captain Yang brought it over, but he didn't say. The straw was taken from the straw stack in the backyard, all of it was the dried top layer, and the straw mat was also brought by Captain Yang."

Then she pointed to his room, "I just poured hot water into the teapot in your room for you. Take a break first and have a drink. I'll go fetch another load."

While speaking, she also saw that there was only half a bucket of water in Chen Fan's bucket, and the corner of her mouth twitched slightly, as if she wanted to laugh but didn't dare to, but she didn't say anything.

After carrying a load of water, Chen Fan didn't dare to push himself anymore, and didn't say anything about letting her put it down and him doing it himself, but just nodded and smiled, "Thank you."

Then he looked left and right, "Where is the water tank?"

Jiang Lili immediately turned around and pointed to the place where she had just come out, "It's next to the house, there's a small shed, you can see it when you go over."

"Okay."

Chen Fan picked up a bucket of water in each hand and walked over with small steps.

Jiang Lili looked at his back, and a smile finally appeared on her face, but it quickly subsided, and she carefully looked towards the door, carrying the empty buckets and leaving.

Chen Fan walked to the side of the kitchen, and only then did he notice that a shed was built between the outermost house and the courtyard wall. The shed extended all the way to the kitchen, forming a whole piece. The shed was like a small house with one wall missing and a door opened. The side without a wall naturally led to the backyard.

There was an even bigger yard behind the house, with two plots of land planted with vegetables. The Chinese cabbages and white radishes were growing quite well. In the farthest corner, there was also a wooden outhouse, and there was also a long shed against the wall, and it was not known what it was used for.

On the side closer to the courtyard wall, there was a large water tank one meter high. On the other side, leaning against the wall of the house, there were also many long-handled farm tools, including flails for threshing soybeans and rice, spiked harrows for gripping the ground, hoes for loosening the soil, shovels for digging the soil, and several carrying poles and baskets. However, "large" farm tools such as windmills and mixing buckets were not seen, and there were no small sickles either, possibly they were in the house.

These farm tools were all wiped clean, and it was probably Jiang Lili's credit.

Chen Fan looked around and then removed half of the tank lid and poured the water from the buckets into the water tank.

In fact, there was still half a tank of water in the tank. Maybe Jiang Lili was afraid that it wouldn't be enough, or she was just the kind of person who couldn't stay idle, that's why she wanted to fill the water tank.

However, how many loads of water would it take to fill such a large water tank?

Chen Fan barely managed to catch his breath, still wondering whether he should go for a second trip.

At this time, he heard a ding, "First time completing the water carrying task, reward +0.5 to constitution, current constitution is 6.5."

Chen Fan's eyes went straight. The reward even has a decimal point?

Then he felt a surge of heat in his body. Although it was fleeting, the pain in his shoulders completely subsided, as if it had never hurt.

0.5 is so awesome?

Seeing that it was effective, Chen Fan also had motivation, and immediately picked up two buckets and walked out.

Isn't it just carrying water, what does a real man have to fear!