Reborn in 1977

Chapter 163 I Am Very Gentle

The exam continued.

Captain Yang and the other two were still chatting, seemingly fascinated by something everyone already knew.

Accountant Liu: "When I graduated from elementary school, I took the exam in the commune. I walked for almost an hour to get there. That morning, I even had breakfast at the commune elementary school: tomato and egg soup with two large meat buns."

Storekeeper Huang: "The year I graduated, I had stir-fried eel slices and shredded pork with green peppers for lunch. I ate four bowls of rice with three dishes and a soup. But when I went back after the exam, it rained heavily, and I threw it all up that night. It broke my heart."

Chen Fan: Uh… *cough*.

Captain Yang scratched his head. "If you don't want to talk about that, you can talk about something else."

Accountant Liu: "One year, I failed the exam and only got a 'fair' grade. I didn't dare show the report card to my old man, and I ended up getting a beating."

Chen Fan calmly ate his melon on the side, thinking, 'So the older generation's schooling experience was this exciting too?'

After chatting for a while, Captain Yang winked at Accountant Liu and Storekeeper Huang. They subtly rolled their eyes and nodded slightly to indicate they understood.

Then, Captain Yang turned to look at Chen Fan, smiling kindly. "Little Chen, when are you planning to fire that pottery blank?"

Chen Fan looked at him in astonishment. "Huh?"

He paused for a moment before realizing what he meant. "Oh, that. I have to wait for the pottery blank to dry completely and then glaze it before firing it."

Just now you were talking about the exams back in the day, and the next second you're asking me about firing pottery?

Captain Yang tapped his pipe, refilled it with tobacco, and grinned. "Is firing pottery difficult? Is it easy to learn?"

Chen Fan lowered his head, his mind racing, vaguely guessing what Captain Yang meant.

So, they've taken a liking to my pottery firing skills?

Then, his mind started working, silently considering the pros and cons.

He had already demonstrated his talents in cooking, electronics repair, culture, and veterinary skills, and he had also started the "Veterinary Training Class." He was already more than capable of establishing himself in Lujiawan. It wouldn't make much of a difference if he showed off another new skill.

So, what benefits would he get if he revealed his pottery firing skills?

It didn't seem like there were any particularly special benefits.

Even if he was given the title of "Pottery Factory Manager," it would just mean a few more work points, at best a cherry on top.

Then, what impact would it have if he didn't reveal it?

Actually, none.

Just like the many craftsmen in the production team—carpenters, bricklayers, basket weavers, brewers—they just made their own things, without affecting others, and others couldn't affect them.

Of course, this way, it wouldn't be possible to maximize profits.

And Chen Fan shared his skills, teaching everyone how to raise soft-shelled turtles, earning the goodwill of the entire team. He proactively offered to repair electrical appliances, which landed him the job of announcer. And he proposed setting up the production team's own veterinary class, which attracted the attention of the entire team. These were all examples of maximizing profits.

In an era when business was not allowed, converting skills into tangible things that could be obtained was the smartest approach, rather than stubbornly hiding them and suffering from hardship and hunger as a result.

So, should he continue to teach pottery firing techniques now?

He didn't want to, mainly because he was too lazy to cause more trouble.

However, rejection also required skill.

Chen Fan suddenly took the cigarette that Old Fourth Huang had just handed him from his ear, lit it with Captain Yang's fire, exhaled a puff of smoke, and said softly to Captain Yang, "Captain, I understand what you mean."

When Captain Yang heard him say this, the smile on his face grew even wider.

Accountant Liu and Storekeeper Huang also smiled at each other, thinking to themselves, 'As expected of an intellectual. He understood before we even said it.'

Chen Fan continued, "Let me put it this way. If it's just about building a pottery kiln to fire some things for our own use, I definitely won't hide anything. As long as the team prepares the materials and provides a few people, I can start work at any time."

Hearing this, Captain Yang and the other two couldn't help but nod slightly.

Judging from Chen Fan's performance in the past month, he was indeed not the kind of person who would keep good things to himself. He taught the soft-shelled turtle farming technique, which could be passed down through generations, as soon as he learned it. Even though the veterinary station only wanted him to study veterinary medicine, he proactively proposed that the production team set up its own veterinary class to teach everyone what he had learned from the veterinary station.

Such a spirit was simply the same as Lei Feng and Zhang Side.

If they said that Chen Fan was unwilling to teach everyone the pottery firing skills, they themselves would find it impossible.

Then, they heard Chen Fan say,

"However, regardless of whether I can fire pottery or how good my pottery firing skills are, let's talk about two issues. Pottery firing requires clay and firewood. If our production team sets up a pottery factory to specialize in producing pottery, where will the pottery clay and firewood come from?"

Hearing this, Captain Yang and the other two were immediately stunned.

They looked at each other, speechless.

That's right, where would the pottery clay and firewood come from?

Regardless of other places, Lujiawan was just a small river bay, surrounded by rivers on three sides and connected to the commune on one side.

Half of the land was paddy fields, and half of the remaining land was dry land. The last quarter was uneven slopes. It was possible to dig soil from the slopes to fire pottery.

But what about firewood?

Cutting down trees required reporting to the commune's forestry department. And how many kilns could be fired with ordinary miscellaneous trees?

Previously, they had been thinking that they must build the pottery kiln in Team 6, so that they could seek some benefits for the members of Team 6. Now it seemed that, not to mention Team 6, the question of whether the kiln could be built in the entire Lujiawan was a big question mark.

Unless the commune came forward, it would be almost impossible. The four large teams in the south did have several firewood mountains and a charcoal factory specializing in charcoal burning. But the county already had a ceramics factory. Would they agree to the commune setting up another pottery factory?

Chen Fan took a puff of his cigarette, showed a hesitant attitude, held it in his hand to let it burn, and then said, "As long as the problems of pottery clay and firewood can be solved, after the veterinary training class is finished, I will definitely study pottery firing techniques diligently and train a group of pottery firing technicians for the team."

Captain Yang suddenly woke up. That's right, the top priority now was to get one of the only two veterinary quotas, not some pottery factory that was far away.

He immediately nodded and said, "Yes, yes, the top priority is to run this veterinary class well. We will select the students first, and then you will teach them well, and we must obtain the rural veterinarian certificate. We'll talk about the pottery firing later."

Accountant Liu also quickly smiled and said, "In the future, we will have to trouble you to discipline them well. If anyone doesn't listen, just hit them. If anyone dares to disobey, tell me, and if they're a Liu, I'll beat them to death!"

Storekeeper Huang followed closely and stated, "The same goes for the Huang family. When our Huang family members are selected, I'll give you a whip. If you encounter someone who doesn't listen, beat them to death as long as they don't die."

The corners of Chen Fan's mouth twitched slightly. Actually, I am very gentle and not that violent.