Reborn in 1977

Chapter 2: A Straight Confession

Seeing Chen Fan's refusal to cooperate, Captain Yang grew angry, immediately slamming his hand on the table and shouting outside, "Old San, go get Zhu, the Public Security Officer."

Chen Fan shrank his neck, feeling extremely guilty, yet on the verge of tears.

What kind of situation was this!

Afterward, Captain Yang remained silent, fixing him with a stern gaze, hoping to break through his psychological defenses and make him confess his origins.

Twenty minutes later, the sound of a bicycle bell rang out, and the villagers who had been crowding at the doorway, discussing the situation, quickly cleared a path, as a man wearing a peaked cap and a dark blue police uniform walked over.

Before he even entered the door, his voice arrived, "Captain Yang, what's the situation?"

Captain Yang stood up, took out a cigarette and offered it to him, then lit it with a match, before lighting one for himself, and then invited the man to sit at the table, before pointing to Chen Fan and saying, "Yesterday, when we went to fetch water, we found this person by the river, wearing only a set of thermal underwear…"

Chen Fan silently corrected him in his mind, 'This is pajamas, not thermal underwear.'

As Captain Yang narrated, he finally understood what had happened to him.

Simply put, yesterday, when Captain Yang and the others went to the river to fetch water, they found a person lying by the water's edge, with most of his body submerged, wearing only a set of thin clothes.

They discovered that the person was still breathing, so they rescued him, wiped his body, fed him ginger and brown sugar water, and invited Doctor Zhang, the barefoot doctor from the brigade headquarters, to prescribe him two doses of medicine, and then settled him in the educated youth residence, which is the room Chen Fan was currently in.

As for who took off his clothes and wiped his body, Captain Yang didn't say, and Chen Fan didn't dare to ask.

Captain Yang recounted the cause and effect, then pointed to Chen Fan and said, "This kid woke up today, and when I asked him where he came from, he knew nothing and just gave me the runaround. So I asked Old San to call you over for questioning."

Public Security Officer Zhu sat in the chair, smoking a cigarette, his eyes scanning Chen Fan up and down. After a while, once the cigarette was finished, he asked sternly, "Where are you from?"

Chen Fan shrank his neck, "I don't remember."

Public Security Officer Zhu asked again, "What's your name?"

"Chen Fan."

Public Security Officer Zhu curled his lip in disdain, "You remember your name, but you don't remember where you're from? Are you suffering from selective amnesia!"

Then he slapped the table, "Still not confessing honestly!"

Chen Fan wore a mournful expression, "Comrade Public Security Officer, I really don't remember. You can't expect me to make up a story, and then you investigate and find out it's not true. What would I become then?"

Whether it was the 1950s, 60s, or 70s, before large-scale population movement, household registration was both the most rigorous and the most lenient.

Rigorous, because as long as you investigated, there was no one you couldn't find. At the very least, there would be a background and history. Anyone who couldn't be found definitely had a problem.

Lenient, because all records were managed by people. As long as someone waved their pen, they could create a person out of thin air, and with a few more people to cover it up, this person would take root and sprout.

Chen Fan was a newcomer. Who would wave their pen to cover for him?

So the safest approach was to honestly say he didn't know, which would leave room for maneuver.

Public Security Officer Zhu looked to be in his forties or fifties, and his posture was upright, likely a retired soldier. His sharp eyes scanned Chen Fan up and down. After a moment, he suddenly said, "Stand up and walk around."

Although he didn't know what he wanted to do, Chen Fan obediently stood up and walked a circle in the room's aisle.

When he walked in front of Public Security Officer Zhu, he suddenly called him to stop, and then said, "Hold out your hands."

Chen Fan stretched out both hands, and thoughtfully asked, "Do you want to see the back of my hands too?"

Public Security Officer Zhu glanced at him strangely, "Yes."

Chen Fan immediately rolled his eyes. He realized at this moment that his hands seemed to have become much more tender and fairer. Some of the small wounds he used to have had all disappeared.

But with a guillotine hanging over his head, he wasn't in the mood to think about anything else. He'd get through this hurdle first.

Public Security Officer Zhu didn't say anything, but took out a very small notebook and a fountain pen from his pocket and placed them on the table, "Write your name."

Chen Fan did as he was told.

Public Security Officer Zhu picked up the notebook and looked at it, then looked at Chen Fan, and then nodded to Captain Yang, "Come out and talk."

Captain Yang glanced at Chen Fan and followed Public Security Officer Zhu out.

Chen Fan watched them squeeze through the crowd, and then the doorway was blocked again by "concerned citizens." He couldn't help but grin awkwardly and nodded amicably, trying to show his goodwill.

The people in the front row didn't speak or respond, but just stared at him with unblinking eyes.

It was rare to have any entertainment in winter, and suddenly an unknown person who had fallen into the water appeared, so everyone naturally came to watch the excitement.

The people in front couldn't say much in front of Chen Fan, but it wasn't so quiet in the back of the crowd. Everyone was whispering.

"Could he be a spy?"

"What kind of spy would be dumb enough to perform a mission in the water? Fishing for something?"

"I'd say he's probably an educated youth."

"Why would an educated youth jump into the river for no reason?"

"They don't want to go to the countryside."

"Is going to the countryside worse than jumping into the river? Have you seen any educated youth in our team jump into the river?"

"Maybe he's an old rightist."

"An old rightist wouldn't jump here either."

"Hey, hey, look at his delicate skin and tender flesh. Could he be the child of some cadre?"

"Who knows? Wearing only a set of thermal underwear in the dead of winter, and falling into the water without drowning. He probably drifted from not too far away."

"But there are only a few production teams upstream. Where would a cadre come from?"

"I didn't say he was a cadre."

"In my opinion, he's an educated youth who was robbed halfway, stripped of his clothes, knocked unconscious, and thrown into the water to fend for himself."

"Nonsense, the bandits have all been wiped out by the militia. Where would there be robbers?"

"That's hard to say. In the desolate mountains and wilderness, far from any village, you could be knocked down with one blow. Who would know!"

"Hey, Old San, you seem pretty familiar with this. Have you done it before?"

"Go, go, go. We're talking about robbers. Why are you dragging me into this?"

…

On the other side, Public Security Officer Zhu pulled Captain Yang into another room, closed the door, and after the two sat down, he said, "I checked just now. This kid has never been a soldier or worked. The palms and backs of his hands don't even have calluses. His skin is more delicate than my grandson's. The writing is in simplified characters, and his accent is local. He shouldn't be a spy."

He even chuckled, "If he were really a spy, he would definitely make his lies sound as real as the truth. It wouldn't be so easy to be discovered."

Captain Yang looked at him, "Even if he's not a spy, he must have come from an improper background. Otherwise, why wouldn't he say where he came from?"

Public Security Officer Zhu took out a cigarette and offered him one. Captain Yang quickly took out his own cigarettes, "Smoke mine, smoke mine."