Reborn in 1977

After adding a bundle of straw to Little Colt and covering him, and using straw mats to keep Little Chicken and Little Dog warm on top of their baskets, Chen Fan returned to his room to wash up and rest.

With the lights off, the room was pitch black, but lying in the warm quilt, listening to the howling north wind outside, he felt a sense of warmth and satisfaction.

He wondered if there would be heavy snow tomorrow, if there would be long icicles under the eaves, if the water in the pond had frozen, and if the branches in the yard would be bent by the heavy snow…

And then he fell asleep.

When he opened his eyes again, the room was still pitch black, and he couldn't even see a glimmer of light from the window.

But from the crack in the door, he could tell that there was some light outside.

His alarm clock hadn't gone off yet, so it wasn't even 6 o'clock, but he couldn't wait to get up.

Enduring the biting cold, he turned over and sat up, picked up the cotton-padded jacket he had covered the quilt with last night, and then rustled into his other clothes.

After getting out of bed, he felt his feet were a little cold after putting on his cloth shoes. After thinking for a while, he rummaged through the cabinet and found the cotton shoes that Jiang Lili had given him. As expected, they were much warmer after putting them on.

Wrapping himself up tightly, he finally opened the door.

The moment the door opened, a expanse of white appeared before him.

There were still sporadic snowflakes falling from the sky, and he didn't know if they would stop or get bigger again.

The snowflakes fell to the ground, accumulating a thick layer of white snow, even submerging the corridor under the eaves, directly piling up at the corner of the wall. If it weren't for the threshold, the snow would have reached the room by now.

The yellow-green fir trees in the distance were covered with a layer of white snow, as well as the top of the courtyard wall, the roof, the woodpile… Looking around, everything was a vast expanse of white.

He raised his head, and strings of icicles under the eaves were crystal clear, looking very delicious.

Chen Fan looked at the snow outside the door, then looked at the new shoes on his feet, and turned around to find his clogs.

He tied the clogs under his feet, tried to walk two steps, felt a little uncomfortable, but felt it was okay, and prepared to go out.

Then he heard the sound of crunching snow outside.

Chen Fan walked to the door and happened to meet Jiang Lili coming to visit.

She handed over a strange pair of shoes with a smile on her face, "This is for you."

Chen Fan took the shoes, looked at them, then looked at her, and asked in surprise, "What is this thing?"

Jiang Lili covered her mouth and chuckled twice before saying, "I guessed you've never seen it before. I've never seen it before when I was in Yunhu."

After a pause, she continued, "These are reed shoes, made of rice straw and reed flowers. Only the commune has them, and they are rare in the county. People in the village wear these to get through the winter. They are very warm."

(Reed Shoes)

She looked at the new cotton shoes on Chen Fan's feet and couldn't help but smile sweetly, then said, "If you wear these and then wear clogs to travel, you don't have to worry about getting your shoes wet. When you get to the brigade, change into cotton shoes, so your feet will be very warm and won't get frostbite."

Chen Fan took the reed shoes from her hand, his eyes full of amazement, "There are even these kinds of shoes?"

Looking at her feet again, she was also wearing a pair of reed shoes, and like him, she was wearing clogs.

He couldn't help but admire, the wisdom of the common people is infinite!

He changed into reed shoes, put the cotton shoes in a cloth bag, checked Little Colt, Little Dog, and Little Chickens to make sure they were safe and sound, ate breakfast, put on a straw hat, put on a raincoat, and Chen Fan walked towards the brigade headquarters.

Today, he definitely couldn't run and exercise on this road, so he could only practice for ten more minutes after arriving at the brigade headquarters.

It was just past 6 o'clock at this time, the sky was not yet bright, and it was freezing cold. Looking around, there was no one, and everything was a vast expanse of white.

All the field ridges and ditches had disappeared, and there were only undulating white blankets on the ground.

If he had been half a month late and traveled through today, he would have been transported away immediately, without any suspense.

Chen Fan turned this absurd thought in his mind, shook his head with a smile, reached out and fixed the straw hat on his head, and walked forward, relying on his past impressions and the protruding parts of the road to determine the road.

Wearing brand-new reed shoes on his feet, and then stepping on clogs underneath, he left a π-shaped footprint in the snow.

After walking halfway, when he reached the "main road" of Lujiawan, he suddenly heard two bird calls.

If it were an ordinary person, they would only think that some birds had come out to forage for food.

But listening to Chen Fan's ears, it was "It hurts", "It hurts".

Chen Fan was stunned for a moment, and walked in the direction where the sound came from, but the sound suddenly disappeared.

He stood under a poplar tree, looked up, and didn't find anything wrong. He searched around on the ground, but still didn't find anything.

After pondering for two seconds, Chen Fan made a few "chirp chirp" sounds, "If you don't come out, I'll leave. If someone else finds you, they'll catch you and eat you, or the heavy snow will freeze you to death."

After tilting his head and waiting for a while, a "chirp chirp, chirp chirp" sound suddenly came from overhead.

Looking up, he saw a small head sticking out from a cluster of leaves.

Chen Fan looked at its curved beak and big black eyes, and felt inexplicably familiar.

Big eyes stared at small eyes, Chen Fan suddenly realized, isn't this a "Ten-Year Bird"?!

Eurasian hobby, a small raptor that feeds on sparrows, tits, and other small birds, and also eats insects. In the north, it is a migratory bird, and south of the Yangtze River, it is a resident bird. Years later, it was honorably listed on the national second-class protected animal list.

The reason why Chen Fan knew this bird was because two people dug out the Eurasian hobby nest and caught 16 birds for resale. One was sentenced to 10 years and the other was sentenced to 10 and a half years. At that time, it caused a sensation, and the Eurasian hobby was therefore named "Ten-Year Bird".

But that's in the future. Now, even pandas have to sell their skills to support themselves. If you kill a tiger, you can still get a certificate of "Tiger-Fighting Hero". You can play with this kind of small bird with confidence.

Chen Fan beckoned to it, "Are you injured? Come down and let me take a look."

The Eurasian hobby stared at him with its head tilted, its eyes intertwined with vigilance and curiosity, shaking its head back and forth, not knowing whether to go down.

Seeing that it didn't come down, Chen Fan said unhappily, "What's wrong, weren't you shouting that it hurt just now? Doesn't it hurt now?"

As soon as the Eurasian hobby heard this, it immediately made two "chirp chirp" sounds, "It hurts, it hurts."

Chen Fan stretched out his left arm and patted his arm with his right hand, "If it hurts, come down, stand on my arm, don't scratch me."

The Eurasian hobby then opened its wings and swayed onto Chen Fan's arm.

Chen Fan carefully checked it. This little Eurasian hobby was less than 30 centimeters long and should not have fully grown up yet. At this time, it was looking at itself with slight panic. He couldn't help but touch its bird's back, "Open your wings and let me see where you are injured."

The Eurasian hobby gently opened its wings, and Chen Fan immediately found its wound.

The left wing was intact, but there was a bloodstain on the right wing. The blood had already solidified. It should have been hit by a small stone.

The children in the village didn't have much entertainment. Usually, they probably played with throwing mud, bamboo carts, rolling iron rings, bamboo dragonflies, catching stones, jumping rubber bands, playing slingshots, spinning tops… these things.

Someone must have been playing with a slingshot yesterday and hit this Eurasian hobby, and it fell on this tree and saved its life.

However, it snowed so heavily last night, and this little guy couldn't fly. If it hadn't met itself, its life would have been in danger.

Chen Fan gently stroked the back of the wing where the wound was. The Eurasian hobby suddenly retracted a little, obviously in pain.

The little guy also knew that he was checking himself, and still endured the pain and opened his wings.

After carefully and gently touching it for a while, Chen Fan smiled and said, "Okay, put it away."

The Eurasian hobby swooshed and closed its wings.

Chen Fan touched its head and smiled, "Fortunately, there is no fracture. I will take you back and apply some medicine, and it will be fine in a few days."

The Eurasian hobby didn't know what a fracture was, but only knew that he was going to heal himself, so it obediently shrank its claws and let him hold it in his arms and walk into the distance.

After a while, he arrived at the brigade. Zhang Wenliang and the others had already arrived here, but they were not practicing martial arts, but some were taking wooden shovels and some were taking brooms to clear the snow in the yard.

Chen Fan hid the Eurasian hobby in his raincoat, greeted them, and entered the radio station at the back.

He found a cardboard box, and went to the kitchen to get two rice straws back, unpacked them and made a nest for the Eurasian hobby, and then went out to find medicine.