Reborn in 1977

Chapter 386: Origins

Doubts were doubts, but Deputy Director Lin had no intention of going back on his word.

He had worked at the dock for so many years, what kind of ships hadn't he seen?

Single-masted sailboats, barely larger than awning boats, were enough to make people sweat, fearing they would be overturned by the wind.

There were also people who cut bamboo in Jiang'an, Sichuan, threw it into the river, then tied it into rafts at the river's mouth, and let them float down the river, with small houses built on them by the rafters. They still went through the dangerous Three Gorges.

(Bamboo and wooden rafts with houses on the river; the small one is a single-masted sailboat. They disappeared after the dam started being built.)

Compared to those strange boats and rafts, the boat from Lujiawan was at least a boat, looking stable and seemingly able to withstand wind and waves.

It was just that he hadn't seen such a "retro" boat in many years, so he couldn't help but be a little surprised.

After all, after more than a decade of ship upgrades, this type of boat was no longer common on the river.

…

There were six people from Lujiawan this time: Secretary Yang, Ye Shubao, Anquan, and Zhang Wenliang, plus two transportation team members responsible for sailing the boat and carrying loads.

Although Secretary Yang was a principled person, he was also flexible and adaptable.

Giving gifts to individuals was a taboo for him, but giving gifts to a large unit about to cooperate was a friendly exchange between collectives, and no one could find fault with that.

Before leaving, he personally selected six loads of gifts, including chickens, ducks, geese, and rabbits that were about to be sold, as well as newly harvested rice, tanned hides from the spring hunt, a dozen fresh fish, etc., all packed in baskets.

Leaving two team members to watch the boat, Zhang Wenliang took the initiative to pick up a load and swayed into the waiting hall office building behind them.

Needless to say, in a harmonious and friendly atmosphere, the two sides successfully signed the lease.

Starting tomorrow, a 40-square-meter store next to the Yunhu Local Specialty Shop at the dock exit would be used by the Lujiawan Delicatessen, and a stall would be added inside the waiting hall, successfully completing the scheduled task.

After coming out of the waiting hall, Chen Fan first put Lin Liwen on a tricycle and let her go back to her unit, then took Secretary Yang and the others to the three passenger stations he had visited in the morning, both to sign contracts and to visit and give gifts.

By the time these things were done, it was evening.

Walking out of the passenger station, Chen Fan looked at the others and said with a smile, "Sister Zhou from the health department wanted me to go to those hospitals and health schools today, but I specially arranged it for tomorrow in order to run the passenger station and dock passenger company, so today's task is considered complete.

It's late now, let's find a place to eat first, then go to the guest house for a night, and go back after running those few places tomorrow."

Secretary Yang waved his hand, "We won't stay, and we won't eat. We'll just make do with something when we get back."

As soon as he said this, Captain Ye looked calm. In his opinion, now that the team had its own dedicated boat, they could leave whenever they wanted.

Besides, the boat was going back anyway, and it had to come to the district committee early tomorrow morning to deliver goods, so why spend that extra money? It would cost at least six or seven yuan for them to stay for one night and eat.

But as long as they went back to stay, this money could be saved. Save where you can.

Zhang Wenliang and Anquan wanted to stay at the district committee for one night.

Take a look here, the city is different. On both sides of the wide road, street lights light up before it gets completely dark. In the small square not far ahead, there are people playing basketball, badminton, and table tennis. Some people are playing chess, and there is also a "dance floor" specially opened up, with a double cassette recorder playing soothing music, and a group of young people dancing there?

Dancing?

Are you kidding me? It's only '77, and people are dancing publicly in a small place like Yunhu?

Seeing this scene, Chen Fan forgot to reply to Secretary Yang for a moment, and scanned with wide eyes.

Oh, it turned out that men were dancing with men, and women were dancing with women, so it was okay.

In fact, starting this year, the young people of these years have been living quite freely, and there are even many people drinking and playing finger-guessing games in restaurants, so that a regulation was issued in 1982, "Prohibiting: finger-guessing, drinking games, playing music, and dancing" in restaurants and canteens.

(That's it)

So before the spring cold snap blew over, people's lives were actually quite rich.

Taking perming hair as an example, as early as the end of 1976, the Wangfujing Silians Hair Salon in BJ began to secretly restore perming. In the summer of the following year, that is, in May and June of '77, the perming business was officially opened to the public, charging 40 cents per time, which also attracted many foreign media reports at that time.

In comparison, this kind of social dance danced together between the same sexes is nothing. In the trade union activity rooms of many units, there are also special heterosexual blind date dances.

Well, if you count it, it's just the batch that danced square dance later?

It's just that Lujiawan is a small place, and information and transportation are inconvenient, so there is no change.

But now that the sales channel of the district committee has been opened up, there will be people coming and going to the district committee every day in the future, and what changes will happen in the future is hard to say.

This is not, the lively night scene deeply attracted Zhang Wenliang and Anquan, who were still young people, and they almost couldn't take their eyes off it.

But a few seconds later, Chen Fan quickly reacted and said to Secretary Yang, "It's going to be dark, and it will take nearly two hours to go back at the fastest. Isn't it inconvenient to sail at night?"

Secretary Yang immediately waved his hand, "It's okay, we brought a searchlight, and we can see any road, so don't be afraid."

(Searchlight base, you can shine far when you install the light)

After a pause, Secretary Yang said again, "There are still two loads of things left from today. Just leave them all to you. Find a car later and pull them to the health department. People have helped so much, and we can't have no expression at all."

Hearing Secretary Yang say this, Chen Fan couldn't say anything more, so he nodded, "I understand, I will arrange it."

Zhang Wenliang and Anquan next to him saw that Chen Fan couldn't persuade him, so they could only follow back with disappointment.

Taking the bus to the dock, they first helped Chen Fan carry the two loads of gifts up before leaving reluctantly.

Although they will come again early tomorrow morning, the beautiful night scene is no longer there!

Chen Fan stood on the side of the road, watching the wooden boat slowly leave the dock under the steps, then turned to look at the chickens, ducks, and geese squawking in the cage, and couldn't help but wipe his face.

I can still carry one load of things away, two loads?

There's no way, let's take a car.

Chen Fan carried one load in each hand, first went to the store at the entrance of the waiting hall to buy something, and then carried the loads to the bus station.

The people waiting for the bus next to him looked at his dusty appearance (running outside all day), then looked at the two wicker baskets, smelling a smell mixed with sweat and the smell of chickens, ducks, and geese, and decisively chose to keep their distance.

Was he disliked?

But Chen Fan didn't care. There were too many city people who disliked farmers, who did they think they were?

After a while, the bus arrived at the station. After the others got on first, Chen Fan picked up a load and prepared to get on the bus.

As a result, before he reached the door of the bus, the ticket seller slammed the door shut with a "bang", and the driver cooperated seamlessly with her, catapulting and speeding away.

Chen Fan quickly put the load across, the car flew past in front of him, stirring up a cloud of dust and leaving a string of exhaust gas.

Fortunately, he had practiced, and immediately held his breath and took two steps back, returning to the side of the platform.

Damn, was he disliked again?

Could it be that my handsome face was covered up?

After waiting for two more buses, he originally thought of squeezing on first, so that the ticket seller wouldn't be able to close the door.

Unfortunately, this is the dock!

Everything is missing, but there is no shortage of people, not to mention that he is carrying two loads, how could he squeeze past others.

He couldn't hit people either, how annoying.

In the end, he could only helplessly give up the idea of taking the bus.

Fortunately, this is the dock, and there is also a taxi station, with more human-powered tricycles and turtle cars flowing over than other places.

But there were also many people in line.

He bought a taxi ticket, and also added money for the two loads, and then silently lined up in the queue. After waiting for more than half an hour, he finally got into a turtle shell and returned to the guest house of the health department, physically and mentally exhausted.

Carrying two wicker baskets into the door, the night shift receptionist immediately greeted him, "Teacher Chen, where have you been? Why are you still carrying loads?"

Saying that, she was about to take a load over.

Chen Fan shook his head, put the two loads in the corner, breathed slightly, thinking that it was better to go home, he wouldn't be disliked.

Then he pointed to the four wicker baskets and said, "These things were sent by our production team, in order to express their support for the health department, they were specially sent as gifts. Please inform Sister Zhou early tomorrow morning and let her decide how to arrange them."

The receptionist immediately smiled, "Oh, how polite."

If she wasn't just a small receptionist, she would definitely be polite at this time, but now, all she could say was, "Thank you!"

Chen Fan smiled and waved his hand, "Sorry to trouble you, I'll go back and rest first, I'm too tired today."

Receptionist, "No trouble, no trouble, then you go back and have a good rest, leave it to me here, I guarantee there will be no problem."

Chen Fan smiled, turned around and walked upstairs.

Back in his room, he took a shower and changed clothes, going straight to bed without even eating.

At midnight, Chen Fan opened his eyes, yawned, and without turning on the light, got up and dressed.

Now, he wasn't wearing a shirt, suit pants, and leather shoes, but a very ordinary dark blue homespun single layer of clothing, with cloth shoes. This kind of attire was almost everywhere in small towns.

While dressing, he walked to the map on the wall and reviewed the Yunhu city map again, verifying it against his memory to ensure it was correct.

Then, he picked up a small cloth bag and put it in his pocket, walked to the window, glanced outside to make sure no one was around, and then quietly pushed open the window. He supported himself on the windowsill with one hand and flipped out.

However, he didn't fall but was hanging outside the window.

He first closed the window, then released his fingers, finally landing on the ground.

Bending over, he moved forward along the wall, came to the courtyard wall, and with a light push of his feet, he leaped into the air, reaching out to grab the top of the wall, and he was outside the courtyard.

His body pressed tightly against the wall, and after a few seconds, hearing no movement in the courtyard, Chen Fan circled around to the front along the shadows of the street. He saw that only the entrance and the lobby of the guest house were lit, and he didn't see the receptionist, but he heard a faint snoring sound coming from inside.

Needless to say, they were definitely asleep.

He smiled slightly at the inside, hiding in the darkness on the roadside and darting away.

At the same time, he suppressed the excitement in his heart, wondering if Master Lin would challenge him if he knew that he was using his Kung Fu for sneaky things for the first time?

Actually, he wasn't going to do anything bad. It was just that today, in the waiting room at the dock, he heard Deputy Director Lin talk about how a village was washed away during the flood, and he thought, could this be an opportunity to patch up his background?

If he never left Yunhu, never left Lujiawan, and never showed off, living his life in a low-key manner, having a background wouldn't really matter.

People like Secretary Yang wouldn't care about his background as long as he contributed to Lujiawan. They would even help him cover up when others asked, so there was no need to worry about safety issues at all.

However, as the saying goes, "I may not need it, but I can't not have it."

Staying or leaving was Chen Fan's own choice, but he couldn't let this loophole leave him with hidden dangers, making him afraid to easily run around. So, the best way was to eliminate this hidden danger.

Whether he went out for tourism or settled directly abroad and came back to visit occasionally, there would be no problem.

It's just that Chen Fan hadn't thought of a good solution all along.

Recognize relatives?

Actually, it's no different from now.

Spend money to buy a file?

That's also a way, but for several months, he hasn't found a suitable channel. This thing must be done by someone trustworthy, otherwise, it's better not to act.

Until today, after hearing Deputy Director Lin's words, he suddenly realized that perhaps he could make a fuss about missing persons.

The grassroots police station has a household registration archive room, which contains most of the population data within the jurisdiction.

Why not all of it?

Isn't there still unregistered people, plus some refugees? Not to mention now, even decades later, no one would dare to say that they could find out 100% clearly.

So, Chen Fan wasn't afraid of being found out after tampering, because it was impossible to find out completely!

As long as there was a background that everyone was willing to believe, he could patch up this loophole.

In the afternoon, he pretended to inadvertently ask Deputy Director Lin what other similar events there were.

In the end, he found that there weren't many incidents. There were only two in recent years, but many people were missing, but he didn't know the specific situation. He only knew that the places where the two incidents occurred were under the jurisdiction of the same police station.

Chen Fan was now going there to find information and patch things up!

At this time, it was already midnight, the street lights were off, the night was dark and the wind was high, and there wasn't even a ghost on the street. Only Chen Fan's legs almost ran out of afterimages, rushing towards his destination like lightning.

Along the way, regardless of whether it was the main street or the alley, he chose to go in a straight line. After more than half an hour, he finally ran the 10-kilometer straight line distance and arrived at the target police station.

Without alarming the gatekeeper and the police on duty, he secretly went around to the back, rested for two minutes, evened out his breathing, took out a piece of cloth to cover his face, and then flipped over the courtyard wall and entered the archive room with a thin wire.

Regarding the issue of this thin wire, as everyone knows, Chen Fan knows a little bit about mechanics, and he also knows a little bit of Kung Fu, and his sense of touch is particularly good, so everyone can understand it.

After entering the room, he closed the door and checked it first. There was only one window in the room, and the curtains were already drawn. Then he looked at the position of all the things in the room, and even squatted down and gently touched the ground with his fingers.

Well, there's no dust. It seems that the floor should have been mopped before get off work, so he decisively took off his shoes, only wearing socks, and then took out a cloth to wipe the place he had just stepped on, and put his shoes on the cloth as well.

After doing all this, he took out a miniature flashlight he bought at the store at the entrance of the waiting room, turned it on and held it in his mouth, and continued to open the cabinet door.

(Tiger brand miniature flashlight, it was rare to see such a small one back then, but there were usually stores at bus stations and docks)

First find the classification. In a file cabinet in the corner, he finally found a missing file cabinet, and then flipped through it one by one.

I have to say, the number of people who had accidents and disappeared for no reason was really quite a lot, almost several hundred, and he needed to find a suitable person from these hundreds of documents.

Then switch the prince with a raccoon cat!

If he couldn't find it, he would have to try his luck at other police stations.

But he was lucky. After searching and carefully reading all the missing personnel information, several hours had passed, and Chen Fan finally selected three relatively ideal replacement object information sheets.

Looking at the three pieces of information, after pondering for a few seconds, Chen Fan made a decision.

He first put the other two back in place, put the last one on the file box, took out a small knife, gently peeled off the original photo, and then took out a registered photo of himself from the cloth bag, and pasted it on with the glue he brought.

After waiting for a while, he touched the photo and felt that the glue was almost dry, and then restored all the information to its original place.

In addition to the personal information sheet, the three missing information also had a short record of the situation, which was for the convenience of future search and verification, but now it was convenient for Chen Fan.

One was a person from the small village that was washed away by the water, also surnamed Chen, but the name was different. The family background was ordinary, and the person himself was also ordinary. After finishing elementary school, he went home to farm. Almost everyone he was familiar with was in this village. Even if Chen Fan changed a form and changed his name, no one would know.

The disadvantage was that the information from the elementary school was not easy to get, and there were still teachers there. However, after so many years, it was estimated that the teachers didn't remember what he looked like, and it was normal to change his name. Anyway, he was already dead and there was no proof, so he could say whatever he wanted.

If there wasn't a more suitable one, it would be a good choice.

Another one was also surnamed Chen, but the background information was not as good as the previous one. It was the first one he picked out, and it was also the first one he gave up.

The one he finally chose had the most suitable background.

First of all, the name was also Chen Fan. In this era, it was not common for names to be called Fan, so there was no need to change it. Moreover, looking at the photo, the appearance was a bit delicate, and Chen Fan really had six or seven points of similarity. What was this if not fate?!

His ancestral home was in the north. Ten years ago, he moved from the provincial capital to Yunhu with his parents due to changes in their work. His parents were both technicians. At that time, it was a tense period of the Third Front construction. The people he usually contacted were only limited to colleagues in the unit.

And Chen Fan's own range of activities was limited to between school and home. He was usually taciturn, and the teachers and classmates didn't have a deep impression of him. His biggest hobby was reading.

His parents were both college students, and there were hundreds of books in his home, enough for him to read for many years.

Unfortunately, before he could read much, the family's situation became worse day by day. First, his parents' jobs were turbulent, from technicians to health workers, to cleaners, and finally, they both died of illness a few years later.

He himself jumped into the river to swim two years ago. According to people who saw it nearby, he plunged down and never surfaced again.

As for the relatives in his hometown, they had been out of contact for several years, and it was not known whether they still existed.

Even if there were people, it didn't matter. After so many years, who would recognize who?

Besides, I have amnesia.

It's just that the two years in the middle are not easy to explain, but these are minor details and unimportant.

Chen Fan returned the information to its original place, carefully checked it again, and finally left silently.

Only when this information is discovered, he will also be a person with a background in the future!