Reborn in 1977

As soon as Secretary Tian said this, after a brief silence, everyone burst into laughter.

Cui Baozhang pointed at Chen Fan and laughed, "As expected of Teacher Chen, taking advantage of us right in front of our faces. Can't you be a little more subtle?"

Chen Fan sighed, "I'm afraid that if I'm subtle, you won't be willing to sell it."

Then he spread his hands, "See, I'm being so direct, and Secretary Tian is still unwilling to sell. Subtlety would be even more hopeless."

As he said this, he felt both moved and strange.

He was moved that Secretary Tian would choose to believe in him, and he was naturally curious as to why he would choose to believe him? That was the conclusion of engineers from the provincial capital!

Secretary Tian shook his head with a smile, "If you're being so direct, and I still sell it as scrap, then I'm a real fool."

After the words fell, two seconds later, he sighed deeply, "The engineers from the prefectural committee and the provincial capital may not have inspected it carefully, or their skills may not be up to par, but there's also a possibility that they simply didn't want to repair it for us."

As he spoke, he raised his head, a hint of mockery appearing on his face, "That's right, repairing it would only earn a little hard-earned money, and the unit would still be the one making the money. It has nothing to do with them. How comfortable is it to directly sell new machines?"

At the end, he added, "It can also cover up their incompetence."

Chen Fan's mouth twitched slightly, and he silently lowered his head, also understanding the reason why Secretary Tian chose to believe in him.

Hearing Secretary Tian's words, Cui Baozhang took a hard puff of his cigarette and said indignantly, "Instead of learning good things, they only learn bad things. In recent years, some people and some units don't know how decadent they've become. They're always trying to be slick and avoid responsibility when they encounter problems. Where's the drive and attitude we had back then when we were engaged in the 'Great Leap Forward,' working continuously for months without rest?"

Secretary Tian pursed his lips and remained silent for a moment. After he finished smoking his cigarette, he threw the cigarette butt on the ground, extinguished it with his foot, and then raised his head to look at Chen Fan, "Our unit will be responsible for buying the parts you need. As long as these two sets of machines are repaired, one of them will be yours, and I'll also give you two sets of outboard motors."

Speaking of this, he grinned, "Of course, that doesn't include the diesel engine, otherwise a used diesel engine would cost 1,000 yuan. I can't afford to give that away."

Chen Fan pursed his lips, wanting to say that they only had one diesel engine too. What was the use of giving him two sets of outboard motors?

Then he heard Secretary Tian continue, "However, we also have an idle diesel engine here. If you want it, we'll sell it to you cheaper, 800 yuan, how about it?!"

Chen Fan immediately took two steps forward and grabbed his hand, "Thank you, Secretary Tian, for your support of our production team. Will 600 work?"

The smile that had just appeared on Secretary Tian's face instantly froze when he heard this. He looked at Chen Fan solemnly for two seconds, then turned to look at Quan, "Are all the people from your Lujiawan like this?"

Quan grinned憨厚ly and nodded, "Yes, the people from our Lujiawan are all like this. Anyway, it's just a used machine, 600 yuan is fine."

Secretary Tian shook his head with a wry smile, "I really can't give it for 600 yuan. Two months ago, the Hongxing Brigade offered 800 yuan, and I didn't sell it. If it weren't for Teacher Chen's sake, I wouldn't have planned to sell this diesel engine.

That's a 45-horsepower high-power diesel engine, much stronger than your 12-horsepower single-cylinder machine that you don't know where you found."

Hearing this, Chen Fan clapped his hands without thinking, "Deal!"

He had thought it was a low-power machine. 800 yuan for a 45-horsepower machine was indeed a friendly price, a steal!

At this time, Secretary Tian waved his hand and said calmly, "Don't talk about the deal yet. The premise of the 800 yuan deal is that you have to repair these two sets of machines. Otherwise, as I said before, I'll sell you two sets of outboard motors, or you can pay for it yourselves, and I'll help you buy new machines."

Chen Fan confidently made a gesture, "As long as the new parts are in place, they can be repaired immediately."

After a pause, he turned to look at Cui Baozhang and said, "Master Cui, if it's convenient, please help me call a few 5th-grade worker masters, the welders, fitters, and blacksmiths I mentioned."

Cui Baozhang immediately nodded, "Coming right away."

As he said that, he turned to find someone.

After he left, Secretary Tian also said, "You can stay here and get busy. I'll go arrange the purchase of the parts."

After a pause, he looked at Chen Fan and smiled, "Don't let us buy the parts back, and you can't fix it…"

Chen Fan immediately said, "Then I'll pay for the parts."

Secretary Tian waved his hand, "You're the repairman we hired. There's no reason to make you pay if you can't fix it."

After a pause, he smiled at Chen Fan, "But it's not easy for us to make money either. If it's not repaired, you'll owe our unit a favor. When the time comes, if we ask you for help, you can't refuse."

Chen Fan's eyes rolled slightly, and he chuckled dryly, "Why don't you just state your conditions clearly? I'm afraid that your requirements will be too high, and I won't be able to do it."

Secretary Tian laughed, "Don't worry, you can do it, you can definitely do it!"

Then he didn't reveal the mystery and waved his hand to leave.

Chen Fan and Quan looked at each other and spread their hands together.

Actually, they could guess even if Secretary Tian didn't say it. The novel that Chen Fan wrote for the construction company had already been published in the Yunhu Daily the day before yesterday, causing jealousy and excitement among many units in the county. If Secretary Tian wasn't after that, would they dare to eat these two sets of thrusters!

Quan walked to the thruster, squatted down to take a look, then turned to look at Chen Fan and asked softly, "How confident are you?"

Chen Fan walked over and squatted down. He wanted to point it out to him, but then he thought that he didn't understand machinery at all, so he could only shrug his shoulders, "You wouldn't understand even if I told you. I can only say 99%."

Quan's eyes were clearly full of smiles, but the corners of his mouth were forcefully turned down, "Look at how proud you are."

After a pause, he asked curiously, "If you hadn't pieced together two diesel engines last time, we wouldn't have known that you understood mechanical technology. But didn't you only understand electronics before? When Secretary Yang and the others sent you a grandfather clock, we didn't see you fix it right away.

Are you saying that you learned it before, but just forgot, and then remembered it later?"

Chen Fan shook his head gently and said, "Actually, mechanical technology isn't that complicated. Look at that diesel engine. There are only so many parts in total. As long as you know its structure and principle, it's very easy to assemble."

He pointed to the thruster in front of him, "And this is the same. Broadly speaking, this set of thrusters can be divided into three major systems. Narrowly speaking, the mechanism of each system is actually not complicated. There's no need to say more about the power system. The direction transmission system is actually the principle of mechanical levers and gear meshing. Then there's the final…"

Chen Fan explained eloquently. After he finished, Quan said, "So this mechanical technology is something you learned later?"

Hearing this, Chen Fan couldn't help but glance at him. After a few seconds of silence, he uttered a word, "Yes."

Quan couldn't help but marvel, "Why do I find that you learn everything so quickly?"

Chen Fan pondered for two seconds and said, "If you study math, physics, and chemistry well, you won't be afraid to go anywhere in the world."

This sentence was said by Qian Weichang in 1956 and gradually spread throughout the country. Later, no one dared to mention it again. It became popular again in the 1980s and was a treasure book followed by many students until the mid-1990s.

Quan narrowed his eyes slightly, silently recited it several times, and looked at him thoughtfully, "Is this why you repeatedly emphasized letting the students in the study class study the math, physics, and chemistry self-study series well?"

Chen Fan smiled, "That's one aspect, but it mainly depends on the students' individual development direction. If it's in the technical field, then math, physics, and chemistry must be put first. If it's in the liberal arts field, physics and chemistry only need to learn the first half of the basics. The focus can be shifted to history and geography later, which is also to lay the foundation for future study."

Quan nodded slowly, "I understand."

At this time, a burst of rapid footsteps sounded. The two stood up and turned to look, only to see Cui Baozhang running up the stairs in great strides. He was followed by a large group of people.

Chen Fan couldn't help but be a little dazed. How could a mere commune repair shop have so many 5th-grade workers?

Don't look down on 5th-grade workers as small fries in front of 7th-grade and 8th-grade senior workers, but it's not so easy to be promoted to 5th-grade. Both talent and effort are indispensable.

Otherwise, there are countless technicians who spend their entire lives spinning below the third grade. Do you really think they don't want to climb up? It's just that their ability is insufficient.

But how many people were in front of him?

1, 2, 3, 4… 16?

Cui Baozhang ran to Chen Fan breathlessly, turned around and said to the three people in their 40s standing at the front, "This is Engineer Qin, a 5th-grade welder, this is Engineer Yi, a 5th-grade fitter, and this is Engineer Liu, a 6th-grade blacksmith."

Then he drew a circle with his hand, "The people behind are the other formal workers and apprentices in our factory. The highest is 4th grade, and the lowest hasn't been rated yet. They're here to learn."

Only then did Chen Fan nod in understanding. I thought, how could a mere repair shop have three intermediate workers? What else do you want?!

He first greeted the three masters, then didn't waste any time, directly led them to the disassembled machine, and told them the repair requirements.

Time passed by bit by bit. After half an hour, the masters all understood the key points of the construction. After confirming the recorded notes with Chen Fan, Cui Baozhang waved his hand and said, "Move all the tools up here and start the construction."

The water below was almost submerging the corner of the wall, and it was only a matter of time before it flooded the factory building. Even if they didn't work on the second floor, it wouldn't work anymore.

However, when building this repair shop, this situation had already been taken into consideration. Not only the fitters and welders, but even the forging table and furnace needed by the blacksmiths were supported by sturdy cement pillars. The foundation was absolutely solid and would not affect the craftsman's performance.

Chen Fan watched for a while, occasionally discussing with the master craftsmen in a low voice, adjusting the repair process. After confirming that there were no problems, he said goodbye to Cui Baozhang.

Cui Baozhang was stunned for a moment, and quickly said, "Why are you leaving at this time? It's almost noon. Just have a simple meal in the unit. Tian Secretary will come to you later."

Chen Fan said with a smile, "It's not that we're being polite, but the repair of these workpieces can't be completed in a day or two. There are other important things waiting for us to do in Lujiawan, so I can only run back and forth."

After a pause, he added, "We also need to go to the Water Transportation Company to get the horses. We'll just tell Tian Secretary when we get there."

Cui Baozhang originally wanted to force them to stay. After all, these two sets of propellers had been a regret for them for two or three years. Now that there was hope of repair, Chen Fan was their distinguished guest. Seeing that it was almost lunchtime, how could he let his distinguished guest leave like this?

However, thinking of the important matter Chen Fan mentioned, he remembered something and asked, "The matter of opening a cooked food factory in the county?"

Chen Fan was slightly stunned and looked at him in surprise. "You've heard about this too?"

After a pause, he smiled again and said, "It's not a cooked food factory, just a small workshop, a sideline run by the team, just a small business."

Cui Baozhang laughed heartily, "Hey, even units with a dozen people in our town are called factories. You've even set up your unit in the county seat, and I heard there are 3 stores, with at least a dozen people in total, right? Why can't it be called a factory?"

He clapped his hands and said, "Okay, since you have serious business, I won't delay you. However, when you're done over there, these two machines will be almost repaired. We must have a big drink!"

Chen Fan immediately smiled and said, "Definitely."

He turned to look at An Quan and said with a smile, "After all, it's a free meal."

The three of them laughed for a while and walked down the stairs amidst the noise of hammering.

Chen Fan was about to go out when he saw the door next to him leading to the adjacent dock and couldn't help but become curious.

He asked Cui Baozhang, "Can I go over and take a look?"

Cui Baozhang laughed and waved his hand. "Of course you can. There happens to be a boat being repaired inside. I'll take you to see it."

Saying that, he walked towards the door.

Chen Fan and An Quan followed behind him. When they arrived at the dock workshop, they found that the side facing the water had no walls. Looking out, the rolling river flowed by.

On a high triangular steel frame, a wooden boat twenty or thirty meters long was propped up, and several workers were busy on the boat, with the sound of hammering and welding coming from time to time.

Cui Baozhang pointed to the steel frame and said, "This is for towing boats. Through a track, the boat can be lifted out of the water. After the repair is completed, it can be slowly lowered with a winch. The process is similar to launching a new ship."

Then he pointed to the wooden boat on the frame and said with emotion, "The age of this boat may be older than you."

The corner of Chen Fan's mouth twitched. Looking at the simple wooden boat, he asked softly, "What year was this boat built?"

Cui Baozhang smiled and said, "1940, isn't it older than you?"

Chen Fan was speechless.

Counting it, this boat was already 37 years old. Even if he counted his original age, it wasn't as old as it. He was convinced.

Cui Baozhang added, "When this boat was built, there were also Master Wang and others from your team. In the blink of an eye, it's been more than 30 years."

Chen Fan nodded in agreement. It was indeed rare for a wooden boat to be used for so long.

Eh, the service life of a wooden boat is at least 60 years, right?

Chen Fan smacked his lips. Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly noticed that there seemed to be another boat behind this boat?

He took a few steps to the side and saw a wooden boat showing its shape.

However, compared to the wooden boat on the frame, that boat was a bit pitiful.

A third of the entire hull was missing, and the remaining two-thirds of the hull was left there. Some parts were already cracked, and it was obviously no longer suitable for launching.

Cui Baozhang followed Chen Fan towards this side and looked over along his line of sight. He immediately smiled and said, "This boat ran aground. It was towed back by other boats at the time. Coincidentally, we were about to receive several cement boats at that time, so we didn't repair it. It's been left here ever since, just as a wood storage."

Speaking of this, he suddenly sighed faintly and pointed to the factory building next to him, saying, "One of the two sets of propellers is from this boat."

Chen Fan pursed his lips and didn't speak, but continued to walk towards the boat.

After a while, he walked up to it and asked curiously, "You just said you used this boat as a wood storage?"

The ship-related information he had read was almost all about iron ships and cement ships. There was no content about this kind of wooden boat, so he couldn't help but feel curious.

Cui Baozhang nodded and explained, "Although this boat ran aground at the time, only the stern was severely damaged, and it didn't affect other parts. Otherwise, it would have sunk to the bottom of the river before we could pull it.

And the wood of this kind of old boat has been soaked in water for a long time and has adapted to the underwater environment. As long as there is no damage, it is actually very suitable as a replacement wood for damaged parts of other wooden boats.

Our Water Transportation Company currently has more than 40 boats, half of which are wooden boats left over from the early years, so we put this boat here to facilitate access at any time to repair other damaged wooden boats."

After he finished speaking, Chen Fan frowned thoughtfully, but he didn't speak immediately, but circled around the half of the boat.

Cui Baozhang followed behind him. After a while, he realized what he was thinking and took two steps forward, asking softly, "Why, are you interested?"

Chen Fan stopped, turned around and smiled, then looked at An Quan and said, "Brother An, do you think it's appropriate for us to buy this boat back, modify it, and use it as the team's second big boat?"

An Quan was stunned at first, then looked at the boat and frowned, "Can this boat still be used?"

If they could buy this boat back and modify it, it would save a lot of time and wood, and it would also be considered waste utilization.

However, can this waste still be used?

Cui Baozhang's face changed slightly at this time, and a glimmer of hope flashed in his eyes. He smiled and said, "If you want to use it, it can still be used."

He took a few steps forward and patted the hull, saying, "Listen, it's all made of the best wood. Even if it's been left here for two or three years, the wood hasn't cracked at all."

He had been here as an apprentice since he was 10 years old and had worked in this repair shop for nearly 40 years. As for his feelings for boats, it was hard to put into words.

But if there was a choice, he would definitely hope that every boat could sail on the water, instead of lying in the factory building like this, waiting to be slaughtered.

An Quan also walked over and pointed to a large crack, saying, "What's this then?"

Cui Baozhang smiled and said, "This is not a crack in the wood, but a gap between the wood and the wood."

He sighed with some regret, "It's a pity that we didn't think about letting this boat go back into the water at the time, so we didn't maintain it. Otherwise, it would have been necessary to brush tung oil twice a year."

After a pause, he touched the boat wood and said softly, "If you really want it, you can disassemble these wood and reassemble them according to the structure of the new boat. After brushing tung oil and letting it dry, it can be launched.

Boats should run in the water, not stay here and be used as a material storage, waiting to be dismantled and installed on other boats."

Chen Fan watched his eyes turn slightly, coughed lightly, and then smiled, "Frankly speaking, buying this boat and modifying it is a temporary idea of mine. However, whether it will work or not, we have to go back and discuss it with the leaders of the brigade first. If they agree, we have to ask Master Wang and the others to come over and check to see if it can be used."

Cui Baozhang nodded and smiled, "I understand, I saw it just now. But it doesn't matter, the boat is here, and no one wants it. You go back and discuss it first, see if you want it or not, and we'll talk about the rest later."