Reborn in 1977

Chapter 330: Technical Advisor

Chen Fan sat on the steps, smoking a cigarette, listening to Captain Yang and the others talk about the changes in the production team, his face full of smiles.

At the beginning of the year, Secretary Yang and the others proposed to establish a breeding farm, and Chen Fan also provided detailed ideas.

But at that time, it was still just a blueprint.

In the words of the common people, things that cannot be seen or touched are not real things.

However, based on their trust in the production team and Chen Fan, everyone did as required.

They learned to raise earthworms, cultivated forage grass, and built bamboo cages, chicken coops, and rabbit hutches at home. Today, they finally saw hope.

Batches of seedlings were brought back and distributed to each household. Veterinarians tirelessly checked the hygiene of the breeding facilities, fed the seedlings preventive medicine, and pointed out various breeding precautions.

Everything was developing in a good direction, and it was no wonder that Captain Yang and the others were all smiles.

After talking about the changes in the production team these days, Captain Yang pointed to the panda park construction site and said, "The foundation was laid today. The construction of your yard is not complicated either. It is estimated that it will be completed in another two days. But what about the roof? Are you still going to use thatch?"

Chen Fan immediately shook his head, "Thatch is not suitable. I will burn some tiles in a few days, and I will have to trouble you to help me lay them."

Captain Yang didn't respond to the word "trouble," and directly pointed at him with a smile, "You, you live in a thatched roof house, but you want the pandas to live in a brick and tile house. What are you thinking?"

What am I thinking? Of course, it's for fun!

Chen Fan's principle now is simple: as long as he's happy!

Before he transmigrated, he liked the rustic style of thatched roofs, so he wanted to use a thatched roof when building the house.

When he doesn't want to use it anymore, he can just replace it with tiles.

It's a lot of trouble, but it's fun.

Of course, he couldn't say this, or Captain Yang and the others would start lecturing him.

So he grinned and chuckled, not saying a word, just like a big fool.

At this moment, An Quan walked up the long slope and happened to see Chen Fan smiling foolishly. He couldn't help but say, "Your smile is a bit like the village idiot at the old street corner. Did you encounter something good?"

Chen Fan stood up and waved his hand, "Brother An, are you here for something?"

An Quan strode over, took the cigarette that Captain Yang handed him, took out a lighter to light it, and sat down next to Zhang Wenliang. He said, "Yes, I'm looking for you."

"Tell me."

Chen Fan threw away the cigarette butt and waved his hand to refuse the cigarette that Captain Yang handed him. He turned to face An Quan.

An Quan took a puff of smoke, then looked at him and said softly, "I was at the brigade just now, and I discussed it with Secretary Yang and the others. Building a small water tower requires a lot of bricks. If we spend money to buy them, it will probably cost a lot. The team is already in debt, so we should save as much as we can."

Chen Fan understood the implication and nodded suddenly, smiling, "You want to burn them yourselves?"

It was impossible to use adobe bricks to build the water tower, and they didn't want to spend money to buy them, so they could only burn them themselves.

An Quan nodded and said seriously, "You also know that you are the only one in the entire Lujiawan who knows how to burn bricks. But don't worry, Secretary Yang and the others didn't say that they wanted you to pass on this skill. Every production team has many skilled people, and no one is forced to pass on their skills.

The main thing is that we want to ask you to be a technical advisor. For the specific work, you can direct others to do it, including me. We will all listen to your command. Whatever you say, we will do. We will only be responsible for producing the bricks in the end. What do you think?"

Chen Fan said without hesitation, "I can't talk about commanding. It's all for the production team, so that we can have running water as soon as possible. I'll take this job."

An Quan's face suddenly bloomed with a smile. He slapped him on the shoulder and laughed, "I knew you wouldn't have a problem."

Chen Fan smiled and said, "However, when burning bricks later, I want to burn some bricks and tiles for my own use, and also get some cement from you. Is that okay?"

It was a bit difficult for individuals to buy cement, but it was relatively easy for the production team to buy it. Under the guise of a collective project, as long as the quantity was reasonable, the commune would generally approve it quickly. Then he could bring a few bags back for his own use.

An Quan naturally agreed readily, "That's nothing. You can burn as much as you want. If you don't use it all, we'll bring it all back to you. Cement is easy to get too. Don't even mention sharing. If you don't need much, just go get it. Consider it a 'technical fee.'"

Chen Fan smiled and said, "Actually, I don't need much. It's just that the bricks I prepared to build the kitchen have to be moved to build the panda house, so I'm short a section and have to make it up."

At the same time, he thought to himself that he might as well burn the tiles together, which would save him from opening another kiln.

Although the small earth kiln he built in the mountain gully had been expanded several times later, it could not burn much at a time, and making brick blanks was also hard work. Even with Jiang Lili and the others, they could not make that many at once.

Now that the brigade headquarters was mobilized, it was different. With thousands of strong laborers in the entire brigade, plus women and half-grown children, they could make 100,000 brick blanks a day, and it wouldn't take long to fire enough bricks and tiles.

He could save trouble and relax, and also get bricks and tiles quickly. Why not?

Speaking of building the kitchen, Chen Fan suddenly stood up, walked to the location of the fermented soil, and uncovered the straw mat on top, revealing the dark, shiny fermented soil inside.

He squatted down and grabbed a handful in his hand, gently rubbing it a few times, and could immediately feel the fineness of the soil.

At this time, Captain Yang and the others also walked over, "How is it? Is it fermented well?"

Chen Fan turned his head and smiled, "It's already done."

Zhang Wenliang immediately said, "It's been almost a month. It should be about the same. Since it's ready, why not call the construction team over tomorrow to plaster it for you, and build the cellar and kitchen at the same time?"

Chen Fan had no objection. The sooner the house was built and completed, the more comfortable he would feel, even if he didn't move in!

...

The next day, Chen Fan first went to find Master Liu to borrow a donkey cart, and took the sorted elementary school textbooks to the village school in Team 10.

After returning, he rode his horse to the brigade.

When he arrived at Team 5, he took a detour and first went to Grandpa Lu Si's house.

As usual, Grandpa Lu was busy in the vegetable garden in the backyard. Seeing Chen Fan arrive, he slowly walked over. Chen Fan then scooped some water to wash his hands, and asked with a smile, "How did your trip to the prefectural committee go?"

Chen Fan chuckled, "Not bad, bigger than Lujiawan."

"Hmph."

Grandpa Lu couldn't help but laugh, "Yunhu is a major town along the Yangtze River, yet that's the only evaluation you have for it."

Chen Fan supported him as they walked towards the house, helping him sit down before picking up the teapot to make him tea. "That Wangjiang Restaurant you mentioned, I went there to eat. The prices aren't cheap, but the taste is a bit inconsistent."

Grandpa Lu held the small teapot, looking at him with a smile, "How so?"

Chen Fan sat down on the other side of the table and said seriously, "I figured it out. The same main dish is made by three different people. One is a master chef who can match the ingredients and seasonings perfectly, making it salty but not too salty, spicy but not too pungent, fragrant but not greasy, and flavorful without losing the original taste of the ingredients themselves.

The other two are a bit lacking. The reason they can make such impressive dishes is all thanks to the master chef's secret sauce. Without that secret sauce, their skills would be at most at the level of Chef Zhu in our town's state-owned restaurant, and they wouldn't be able to get into Wangjiang Restaurant at all."

He paused for a moment, then came back to his senses, "Oh, it's called the Worker-Peasant Restaurant now."

"Worker-Peasant Restaurant?"

Grandpa Lu was stunned for a moment, a trace of melancholy flashing in his eyes, "The Wangjiang Restaurant's signboard is also gone."

He then shook his head and chuckled, "That's right, times have changed. It should be called the Worker-Peasant Restaurant, a restaurant serving the workers and peasants."

As soon as Chen Fan heard this, he couldn't help but shake his head, "Forget it, it's called Worker-Peasant, but it's still the same old routine. When real workers and peasants go to eat, they're ignored. But when people wearing cadre uniforms come, they rush around and serve them more diligently than their own sons. It's not the same."

Grandpa Lu was a little surprised, "Oh, are there really workers and peasants going there to eat?"

Chen Fan nodded immediately, "Yes, there are."

Pointing to himself, he said, "I'm a farmer, and my friend is a worker. We're workers and peasants."

Grandpa Lu couldn't help but burst out laughing when he heard this, "Hahahaha, I knew it. If Wangjiang Restaurant still had the same prices as before, how could any workers and peasants go in to eat."

Chen Fan picked up the teapot and poured himself a cup of coarse tea, saying with a smile, "Hey, don't worry about whether anyone goes in or not. Anyway, the sign is up, so they can't blame anyone for not going."

Grandpa Lu's smile subsided slightly. After a few seconds, he had a smile on his face again, turning to look at Chen Fan, "How did you figure out that their dishes all rely on that sauce?"

Chen Fan crossed his legs triumphantly, chuckling, "I'm a chef too. That sauce is special, but it can't fool my tongue."

He smacked his lips a few times, savoring the flavor, then turned around and whispered, "To be honest, not only can I taste that sauce, but I can also try to recreate it."

Grandpa Lu looked at him in surprise, "Really?"

"Hehe."

Chen Fan smiled and said, "I know you don't believe me, but it doesn't matter. When I recreate the sauce, I'll make you a pot of braised chicken, and you'll know when you eat it."

Grandpa Lu smiled, then suddenly let out a long breath, saying with a face full of melancholy, "That master chef you mentioned should be Boss Cai, the original owner of Wangjiang Restaurant. Those two slightly inferior chefs should be his two sons. Boss Cai values his ancestral sauce recipe more than his own life. No one but him knows how to make that sauce.

Back then, he relied on the sauce recipe and his cooking skills to gain a foothold in Yunhu and open Wangjiang Restaurant. But I didn't expect that after so many years, he's still guarding the stove at Wangjiang Restaurant.

It's just that Wangjiang Restaurant's way of treating guests equally in the past has already disappeared."

The corners of Chen Fan's mouth twitched slightly, and he was speechless for a moment.

Wangjiang Restaurant treats everyone equally? The Worker-Peasant Restaurant favors some over others! How interesting.

After a pause of two seconds, he took out a small wooden box from his bag and placed it next to Grandpa Lu, "I brought you a souvenir from my trip to the prefectural committee."

Grandpa Lu came back to his senses, picked up the small box and looked at it, then looked at him, asking with a smile, "A calligraphy brush?"

Chen Fan was a little surprised, "There's no mark on this box at all, how did you figure it out?"

Grandpa Lu weighed it in his hand, smiling and saying, "This weight and this size, even if it's not a calligraphy brush, it's something similar."

He opened the box, picked up a calligraphy brush inside, looked at it closely, and nodded in satisfaction, saying, "Not bad, not bad, it's a high-quality Huzhou brush."

He turned to look at Chen Fan, asking curiously, "Huzhou calligraphy brushes are famous all over the world. Even Chinese people abroad can't change their habit of using Huzhou brushes, especially some old literati, who won't use anything but Huzhou brushes. This is a high-end product that can earn foreign exchange, and it's usually difficult to buy in ordinary stores. Where did you buy it from?"

Chen Fan was a little surprised, "Really?"

Then he said, "I didn't buy it, someone gave it to me, it's the director of the health department."

Since Director Chu and Deputy Director Hao Liyang both gave gifts, how could he, as the top leader, be left out? So he gave Chen Fan this calligraphy brush.

Before, Chen Fan was thinking about how stingy he was, just sending him off with a calligraphy brush. He didn't see Director Chu "giving" him five packs of Yulan cigarettes with filters.

But he didn't expect that a small calligraphy brush would actually have such a background.

When Grandpa Lu heard Chen Fan say that someone gave it to him, he pondered for two seconds and didn't say anything more.

Then he looked at him with a smile, "I'll accept this calligraphy brush, but I also have something good for you."

Saying that, he stood up and walked into the bedroom, took out a stone from the drawer, walked over and handed it to Chen Fan, "Your skill in seal carving has already reached the entry level. When you feel that you have achieved something in your studies, use this stone to carve a seal for yourself."

Chen Fan took it in his hand and immediately felt a delicate and smooth feeling. He couldn't help but be shocked, and when he looked at it carefully again, this stone was golden all over, and a name flashed in his mind, "Tianhuang stone?"