Reborn in 1977

Chapter 105: Seeking Experience

Emerging from the commune government compound, Secretary Yang cleared his throat. "Old Zhang, you go back first. I have some things to take care of."

Zhang Changjiang was taken aback. "It'll be dark in just over two hours. What business do you have to take care of at this hour? Something personal?"

Secretary Yang glanced at him. "Just go back, will you? Why so much nonsense?"

"Nonsense!"

Zhang Changjiang pointed to the bicycle in his hand and said, "The bike's with you. It'll take me thirty or forty minutes to walk back, less than ten minutes by bike. Besides, we came out together. If your family asks me later, I'll need an explanation."

Knowing he couldn't avoid explaining, Secretary Yang looked around before clearing his throat and saying softly, "Hasn't the broadcasting station been open for three days now? I don't know how the other teams are doing. I just wanted to take this opportunity to go and exchange ideas, to seek some experience from them."

Zhang Changjiang gasped, staring at him in disbelief. "Old Yang, oh, Old Yang, how is your brain wired? To come up with such a lousy idea?!"

Secretary Yang's face hardened, ready to give him a good scolding.

What do you mean, a lousy idea? I'm going to learn from the brother brigades, how could that be a lousy idea?

Then he heard Zhang Changjiang say, "The key thing is you were planning to cut me out and do it alone. Such a good thing, and you didn't include me. That's just not right."

Secretary Yang's face stiffened slightly. "What good thing? It's just…"

Zhang Changjiang snatched the bicycle from his hand, chuckling. "I'm fast. I can tour all four teams and maybe even make it home before dark."

With that, he straddled the bike, putting his foot on the pedal. "Get on."

Secretary Yang didn't hesitate, immediately jumping on the back. "Be careful, don't go veering into a ditch."

Zhang Changjiang pedaled away. "Put your heart back in your stomach. I guarantee a smooth ride."

Then he chuckled again, "It's a pity we didn't bring Little Chen along. It's missing something. But what do you think they'll be thinking tomorrow morning when they hear the news?"

Secretary Yang, "…"

What kind of people are these?!

…

Chen Fan stayed in the broadcasting station, practicing the basics of sketching lines, until the 5 o'clock broadcast ended, then he packed up and left work.

He asked in the central courtyard, but Secretary Yang and Team Leader Zhang hadn't returned yet. He wondered what the situation was over there?

Team Leader Xiao and the others were also puzzled. A round trip by bicycle, at the fastest, shouldn't take more than 20 minutes, but it's been almost two hours now. Could it be that Secretary Qian from the commune kept them for dinner?

Unable to figure it out, Chen Fan went home first.

He walked quickly out of the village, then broke into a run, arriving home at a quarter past five.

Jiang Lili was cleaning fish in the yard. Seeing him return, she immediately looked up and smiled. "You're back. Was it smooth today?"

Chen Fan first leaned the dog-beating stick against the wall, walked over, and said, "Not bad. The draft is finished. Secretary Yang and Team Leader Zhang took it to the commune. I don't know if they'll use it."

Jiang Lili widened her eyes. "So fast? It's already been sent to the commune?"

Then she smiled. "Of course it will be. Otherwise, they wouldn't have gone to send it together."

Chen Fan laughed. "That's what I think too."

Hearing this, Jiang Lili chuckled.

Normal people would exchange a few polite words, but he just admitted it directly. But this kind of frankness is quite cute.

Thinking of this, a blush crept onto Jiang Lili's face, and she lowered her head to continue cleaning the fish.

After a while, she finished the fish, rinsed it clean, and after a little tidying up, she prepared to go to the kitchen to cook.

Just as she looked up, she saw Chen Fan holding a drawing board with white paper, sketching, and looking at her from time to time.

She couldn't help but feel a little strange. "What are you drawing?"

Chen Fan: "Sketching."

"Sketching?"

Jiang Lili frowned in confusion. "What's that?"

Chen Fan looked up, saying with a serious face, "Once I finish sketching, you'll know what it is."

Jiang Lili raised her eyebrows, gently rolled her eyes, and smiled. "Then you sketch slowly. I'm going to cook."

After she entered the kitchen, Chen Fan also returned to his room, taking off the kettle and cloth bag he was carrying.

This cloth bag was sewn by Chen Fan himself, using the cloth that Old Huang Four had given him. Even if Old Huang Four gave him another piece later, it still wouldn't be enough to make a set of clothes, so he simply cut it up to make a cloth bag.

Anyway, his requirements were not high, just sturdy and able to hold things. The main thing was to increase his tailoring experience points.

However, after it was made, the effect of this homespun satchel was not bad.

The whole piece of cloth was divided into three sections, the bottom two sections were folded and sewn into a bag, the top section was made into a flap, and he also used bamboo to carve a small thumb-sized Ruyi as a button, and made a bag strap from the cut-off scraps. Even Jiang Lili said it was good when she saw it.

Most importantly, with this satchel, the small alarm clock no longer needed to be tied to his waist and carried in his pocket, he could just put it in the bag.

Hanging the kettle and cloth bag on the wall, Chen Fan continued to draw the picture he had just been working on.

With a few strokes, he sketched a mud-walled house as a background, and then drew the outline of Jiang Lili's figure, with a wooden basin in front, her hands reaching into the basin.

After the outline was finished, Chen Fan continued to depict the details, focusing on the facial features, which took the most time.

The details were not so easy to draw, especially since he was still a novice.

After eating dinner, washing up, and drawing under the light until 9 o'clock in the evening, he finally completed the painting.

Chen Fan held it up and checked it, first nodding, then shaking his head.

The painting was passable, but only just, after all, he had only increased his painting skill to LV2 after painting all afternoon, so he couldn't ask for too much.

It wasn't good to give this painting away, he should keep it for himself, and send her another sketch when he had increased his skill level.

But this level was enough to draw the labor scene on the dike.

Anyway, sketching was just to express an attitude, the main content still had to be the news article, the pictures were just an auxiliary means.

Besides, even if it was really selected, with the current printing technology, no matter how detailed the drawing was, it would come out like that when printed, so it was good enough.

…

The next morning, Chen Fan got up early, set off an hour early, and ran to the dike on the side of the 5th team. By this time, the commune members had already started picking the dike. After he greeted them, he stood aside to observe the construction site.

Small projects had one disadvantage, which was that the personnel were relatively scattered, and it was difficult to reflect the kind of lively scene.

But it didn't matter, there were ways to remedy it.

Instead of drawing the whole, draw the parts, and then connect the parts, which was also a good composition.

After having a good idea, Chen Fan took out his writing board and started writing.

As he was drawing, a voice suddenly appeared next to him, "What are you doing?"

Chen Fan looked back and saw that it was Zhang Wenliang, and immediately said, "Sketching. Team Leader Xiao also said yesterday that when Bei Zhan was going on, war correspondents didn't have cameras, so some people used sketches instead of photos, and the effect was quite good."

When Zhang Wenliang heard this, he immediately got excited, widened his eyes and asked, "Replace photos? Can you do that?"

Chen Fan smiled. "Of course, it's not as realistic as photos, but isn't it because there are no cameras? So we use sketches to fill in."

"That's better than nothing!"

Zhang Wenliang said excitedly, then his eyes rolled slightly, and he asked in a low voice, "Can you draw a sketch of the militia?"

Chen Fan nodded without thinking. "Yes, why don't you stand guard, and I'll draw you."

Zhang Wenliang chuckled. "How could I be so embarrassed…"

Then he patted his arm. "Wait for me, I'll go get my horse and gun."

After saying that, he ran towards the village in a puff of smoke.