Reborn in 1977

Chen Fan had seen that saddle long ago. A month ago, Secretary Yang and the others had mentioned that there was a saddle in the warehouse and asked Chen Fan to see if it could be repaired and used.

However, at the time, they lacked the materials for repair, so it was left untouched in the warehouse until today, when it was brought out again.

Lin Yuanxiang examined the saddle, “The leather is useless; it needs to be completely stripped off. Fortunately, the saddle frame isn't broken, just slightly deformed, but it won't have much impact.”

Chen Fan looked at the saddle frame, frowned, and said, “It's already in this state; it's better to just make a new one.”

The saddle frame was made of wood, and as a qualified carpenter, he could tell that the wooden pieces of the saddle were somewhat decayed, but because the wood was of good quality, it didn't seem like a big problem.

There weren't any major issues, but there were plenty of minor ones. If it were used as is, the saddle would fall apart in a year at most.

It's been 32 years from 1945 to now.

Lin Yuanxiang looked at him in surprise, “You can make saddles?”

Xiao Liewen also said to Chen Fan, “The saddle frame is different from ordinary carpentry. You have to make the wooden pieces curved at both ends. Can you really do it?”

Chen Fan smiled and said, “Let's give it a try. It would be best if it works out. If not, we can just modify this one.”

After examining the structure of the saddle, he had some ideas in mind. The main structure of the saddle wasn't complicated. It was just making a frame and covering the surface with a layer of leather to ensure it wouldn't hurt the horse's skin. At the same time, stuffing some soft padding between the frame and the leather would make riding more comfortable.

This saddle was filled with animal hair. It's a pity that it's hard to buy sponges now; otherwise, a layer of sponge would be the easiest. It wasn't until the early 1980s that factories in China began large-scale production of artificial sponges. Now, they are basically all natural sponges and mainly used for military products. In terms of artificial sponges, China is half a century behind foreign countries.

The Americans are already using this material to make diapers and sending astronauts into space, while we are still using palm fiber and cotton padding. The gap is indeed a bit large.

Seeing that Chen Fan seemed quite confident, Lin Yuanxiang let him do as he pleased and said with a smile, “Alright, I'll see how your craftsmanship is.”

After a pause, he jokingly added, “Don't take half a year to make it. I can't wait that long.”

Xiao Liewen also laughed and said, “Or, like the people in the transportation team, make a wooden-framed saddle. That thing is for pulling carts and is not convenient for long-term riding. It's also not good for the horse.”

Chen Fan laughed and said, “I'm not that muddleheaded. Making a wooden frame is not as good as making a soft-padded saddle with a few pieces of leather.”

A soft-padded saddle has no frame; it's just a few pieces of leather fixed on the horse's back. Previously, Yang Zhijun and Li Zhengqun tied a piece of felt to the horse's back, which was the most primitive soft-padded saddle.

Seeing that Chen Fan was so confident, the two of them let him take the saddle away and make a new one.

… …

Chen Fan carried the saddle to the broadcasting room. At this time, Zhang Cuie was already broadcasting and reading a book intently.

Hearing the noise, Zhang Cuie first turned around to look. Seeing that it was Chen Fan, she immediately stood up and called out “Teacher,” while going to make tea.

Chen Fan put the saddle on the table, pulled over a chair, sat down, looked at her book, and asked, “What difficulties did you have in studying yesterday?”

He had pulled Zhang Cuie over to fill in for him, but he hadn't forgotten to help her continue her studies. Chen Fan's study plan for her was to study broadcasting courses in the morning, mainly listening, speaking, reading, and writing in Chinese, as well as reading comprehension, and to continue studying middle school textbooks in the afternoon. As for the evening, she could arrange it herself.

Hearing Chen Fan's words, Zhang Cuie put the water cup on the table beside him and said with a smile, “Not for the time being. I remember all the knowledge you taught me, so I don't have any difficulties when reviewing.”

As she said this, her eyes were shining, “Teacher, you are really amazing. I have asked others before, but none of them explained it as thoroughly as you do. I had to listen to them several times to understand, but I can understand after you explain it only once.”

Chen Fan chuckled, “Oh, don't say that. I'm just explaining casually. In the end, it's because you have a solid foundation.”

Zhang Cuie smiled and said, “That foundation was also built with your help.”

She wasn't flattering him. Previously, her knowledge basically came from self-study. After finishing elementary school, she couldn't grasp the key points when self-studying middle school. Since following Chen Fan this year, she had re-studied elementary school knowledge under his guidance, and then studied middle school knowledge, which felt like a natural progression, and it wasn't difficult at all.

Faced with this kind of praise, Teacher Chen was already used to it. He chuckled twice and then said, “Starting today, each team will start transplanting rice seedlings. Secretary Yang and Captain Zhang just gave me the task of writing a few reports about rice transplanting. It's a rare opportunity, so why don't you try writing one too?”

Upon hearing this, Zhang Cuie immediately felt a little numb, and said with flickering eyes, “Me? I can't do it, I used to… …

Before she could finish speaking, Chen Fan waved his hand and said sternly, “How can you say you can't do it without trying? Have you forgotten what I taught you, how to analyze articles, how to do reading comprehension? All articles have a fixed framework. What is the central idea? On this basis, find his writing methods. Use the methods of doing reading comprehension in reverse and try writing an article.”

After a pause, he added, “Regardless of whether it's well-written, whether it can be adopted by the commune, the county, or even the prefectural committee, don't think about these issues now. You only have one task, which is to write a good report. In the beginning, don't think about gorgeous rhetoric. First, express the meaning, and then slowly modify it. But be quick. Rice transplanting will only take a few days. If you delay too long, you will lose the timeliness of the news report.”

He pondered for two seconds, raised two fingers, “Just two days. Give me the article by the time you get off work tomorrow afternoon.”

Zhang Cuie looked conflicted but didn't dare to say no. She could only respond with a bitter face, “Oh.”

Chen Fan stood up and smiled, “Show your fearless courage. Isn't it just an article? Is it more difficult than repairing electrical appliances?”

Zhang Cuie squeezed out a smile, “Then I'd rather repair electrical appliances.”

Chen Fan pointed at her angrily, “Promising.”

After saying that, he picked up the saddle and went to the data room next door.

First, disassemble the saddle and carefully observe the structure of the saddle frame. This is a typical warhorse saddle, complete with mudguards, girth, front and rear saddle bridges, saddle flaps, iron rings for hanging sabers, and so on.

In later generations' film and television works, the saddles of warhorses, whether in ancient or modern dramas, are actually mostly lightweight saddles for riding, lacking many functions. Only a very few fine films will replicate this complex warhorse saddle.

However, Chen Fan wasn't going to fight; riding was the main purpose. Moreover, the purpose of a warhorse saddle was to facilitate combat, which wasn't very friendly to the rider and the warhorse, so some structures could be removed, and a new lightweight saddle could be made.

Comparing this saddle with the impression of various saddles in his memory, Chen Fan decided to design his own saddle.

At this moment, all the skills of veterinarian, slaughterer, carpenter, tailor, and blacksmith were activated. The little mare's body structure, physiological characteristics, wood material, shape, sewing, and so on, all appeared in his mind.

After a moment, with a plan in mind, he took out a stack of white paper to draw design drawings.

The pencil rustled on the paper. Soon, various patterns, from the saddle frame to the overall design, appeared on the paper.

Next, he had to turn the drawings into reality.

A pile of garbage was packed up, and the drawings were stuffed into a cloth bag… Seeing the cloth bag, Chen Fan couldn't help but sigh again. He originally wanted to make a crocodile leather backpack, but now it was gone again.

Carrying things out the door, he found Zhang Cuie biting on her pen while passing by the broadcasting room.

Poor child, write slowly. If you want to succeed, hard work is a necessary process, unless you have good parents.

Coming out from the backyard, only Xiao Liewen and Lin Yuanxiang were talking in front. Duoduo and Qiuqiu were training under Lin Yuanxiang's command. Seeing Chen Fan coming over, they immediately looked at him expectantly.

Chen Fan made a few “tsk tsk” sounds at them, “Train well, I'll give you extra meals when we get home.”

The two puppies immediately lit up, jumping and leaping happily.

Lin Yuanxiang gave Chen Fan a strange look, “Sometimes I really want to recommend you to train military dogs. Dogs listen to you too much.”

Xiao Liewen was immediately startled, “Don't!”

Lin Yuanxiang glared at him, “I'm just saying. If I really want to recommend, it's not to train military dogs.”

Before Xiao Liewen could speak, Chen Fan chuckled, “You can recommend me, but I won't go. I keep dogs for fun. I can't stand dealing with dogs all day long. Besides, I don't know anything about dog training, so it's better not to join in the fun.”

Lin Yuanxiang nodded, “That's true.”

Then he looked at Duoduo and Qiuqiu and said thoughtfully, “These two dogs have the potential to be military dogs.”

Chen Fan was speechless. What kind of person is this?

Xiao Liewen didn't care about the two dogs. In his opinion, as long as Chen Fan wasn't taken away now, it would be fine.

He looked at the pile of garbage in Chen Fan's hand, “What are you going to do?”

Chen Fan turned his head and said, “Oh, first throw this away, and then find some wood to make a saddle.”

Xiao Liewen looked at him, “When are you going to write the article?”

Chen Fan smiled and said, “Don't worry, writing a few articles is just a piece of cake. It doesn't take as much time as going out to collect material and paint.”

Xiao Liewen was about to speak when a bicycle bell rang outside. Then they heard someone shouting, “Mail call. Is Teacher Chen writing articles again?”

Hearing the noise, the three of them immediately walked to the door.

The postman's car stopped steadily at the gate of the yard the next second.

Seeing Chen Fan and the others coming over, he laughed and said, “Teacher Chen, you have a letter, sent by the magazine. It looks like a sample issue. Your article must have been adopted.”